PRICE,  -JfLSC 


(OVERSEERS  BUREAU) 


FRANKLIN  INSTITUTE  LIBRARY 

PHILADELPHIA,  PA. 


EXPLANATION 


This  volume  contains  articles  written  in  competition  for  one  of  the 
American  Wool  and  Cotton  Reporter's  contests,  and  is  a  col- 
lection of  practical  suggestions  which  were  sent  to  us  by  men  engaged 
in  all  branches  of  the  textile  industry.  There  were  four  prizes  offered 
as  follows:— First  prize,  $ioo;  second  prize,  $50;  third  prize,  $30;  and 
fourth  prize,  $20.  The  prize  winners  were  selected  by  five  judges,  all 
of  whom  are  at  the  head  of  well-known  textile  schools.  Each  essay 
was  given  a  number  and  the  collection  submitted  to  each  one  of  the 
judges.  These  five  men  then  met  in  Boston  and  made  the  final  choice 
of  the  four  best  articles,  still  dealing  with  these  entirely  by  number. 

One  of  the  principal  reasons  for  offering  prizes  for  articles  on  defects 
and  suggestions  was  to  obtain  a  volume  which  mill  owners,  superin- 
tendents and  overseers  could  all  use  in  bringing  about  greater  efficiency 
in  our  textile  industry.  Many  of  the  essays  were  written  by  mill  over- 
seers w^ho  seldom  put  their  everyday  problems  in  a  form  for  publication, 
and  the  points  brought  out  by  many  of  these  men  are  exceedingly 
valuable. 

AWARD  OF  PRIZES 

First  prize,  $100,  awarded  to  No.  62,  ''Warp  Waste  in  a  Cotton 
Mill,"  by  Edward  M.  Henley,  assistant  superintendent,  Erwin  Mills, 
West  Durham,  N.  C. 

Second  prize,  $50,  to  No.  104,  "Better  System  of  Dressing,"  by 
C.  H.  Chisholm,  Manager,  Department  of  Skilled  I^abor  and  member  of 
editorial  staff  of  American  Wooi.  and  Cotton  Reporter. 

Third  prize,  $30,  to  No.  15  and  No.  23  combined.  No.  15  was 
entitled  ''Saving  the  Dye  Room  Steam."  No.  23  was  ''Concerning 
Scouring  Baths."  Both  of  these  articles  were  written  by  Harry  Twigg, 
of  Toronto,  Canada. 

Fourth  prize,  $20,  to  No.  73,  "Spinning  Room  Supervision,"  by 
W.  C.  Hall,  309  Rutger  street,  Utica,  N.  Y.,  overseer  of  picker,  card- 
ing and  speeder  rooms.  Harden  Manufacturing  Company. 


t 


Copyrighted,  1912,  by 
FRANK  P.  BENNETT  &  CO.,  Inc. 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS 
AND  SUGGESTIONS 

cA  Collection  of  Essays  Describing  Various  Improvements 
Relating  to  the  Manufacture  of  all  Kinds  of  Textile  Fabrics 


From  the  oAmerican  Wool  and  Cotton  Reporter 


PUBLISHED  BY 

FRANK  P.  BENNETT  &  CO.,  Inc. 

NEW  YORK  BOSTON  PHILADELPHIA  WASHINGTON,  D.  C 


HONORABLE  MENTION 


At  the  Judges'  Meeting  in  Boston,  special  comment  was  made  upon 
the  unusual  value  of  a  large  number  of  the  essays,  and  in  addition  to 
awarding  the  four  prizes,  the  judges  wished  to  make  honorable  mention 
of  the  following: 


No.  77,  "Remedying  Finishing 
Room  Defects,"  by  O.  P.  Ireland,  734 
Broadway,  West  Somerville,  Mass., 
woolen  finisher. 

No.  98,  "Defects  in  Styling,"  by 
Don  V.  Messer,  of  Huntington,  Mass. 

No.  16,  "Old  Cotton  Machinery,"  by 
Joseph  A.  Fredette,  Box  433,  Arctic, 
R.  I.,  spinner,  Arctic  Mills. 

No.  51,  "Some  Finishing  Facts,"  by , , 
J.  E.  Dowd,  Hilis^)0.'0,  N.  B.,  clcth,.  ' 
finis'her.  ^     ,  . 

No.  29,  "General  Suggestions,"  by 
S.  P.  Servai3.  Jill  Eiis-;  W^ishingtoh 
street,  Los  Angeles,  Cal.  " 


No.  76,  "A  Needed  Improvement," 
by  O.  F.  Ireland,  734  Broadway,  Wes'L 
Somerville,  Mass. 

No.  22,  "Stick-to-itiveness,"  by  W. 
R.  Smith,  510  South  Boyban  avenue, 
Raleigh,  N.  C,  Caraleigh  Mills. 

No.  58,  "Defects*  in  Ring  Spinning," 
by  William  Shaw,  Jamestown  Cotton 
Mills,  Jamestown,  N.  Y. 

1^6,  7?,  ;:"Oefects  in  Modern  Meth- 
odK"j  by  William  Shaw,  Jamestown 
Cotton  Mills,  Jam.estown,  New  York. 

Nc.  1 '  Tmpiovement  in  Mills,"  by 
Jkmes  E.  Leach,  Lafayette,  R.  I. 


ANNOUNCEMENT 


We  are  pleased  to  announce  that  the 
judges  who  have  been  examining  the 
articles  submitted  for  our  "Defects  and 
Suggestions"  contest  have  made  their 
selection  of  the  prize  winners.  The 
judges  have  made  decisions  without 
knowing  the  narhe  of  a  single  con- 
tributor, for  all  of  the  essays  were  re- 
ferred to  entirely  by  number. 

There  were  four  prizes  offered  for 
the  best  four  articles  on  ''Defects  and 
Suggestions,"  dealing  with  any  feature 
of  carding,  spinning,  weaving,  dyeing, 
finishing  or  any  other  department  in 
cotton,  woolen,  worsted  or  hosiery 
mills.  The  judges  are  all  well-known 
textile  men  and  they  have  given  much 
careful  study  to  each  of  ^the  essays. 

The  judges  making  the  se- 
lection were:  Fenwick  Umple- 
by,  Principal  of  the  Brad- 
ford Durfee  Textile  School,  Fall 
River;  Charles  H.  Fames,  Principal 
Lowell  Textile  School,  Lowell,  Mass.; 
H.  W.  Nichols,  Superintendent  New 
Bedford  Textile  School,  New  Bedford, 
Mass.:  Thomas  Nelson,  Director  of  the 
Textile  Department,  North  Carolina 
College  of  Agriculture  and  Mechanic 
Arts,  Raleigh,  N.  C,  and  Wm.  H. 
Dooley,  Principal  Lowell  Industrial 
School,  Lowell,  Mass. 

SELECTED  BY  NUMBER. 

Copies  of  all  the  essays  submittea 
were  numbered  consecutively  and  sent 
to  each  one  of  the  above  judges.  The 
essays  were  compared  by  each  judge 
independently  without  knowing  any  oi 


the  authors'  names.  The  judges  then 
met  in  Boston  and  made  their  final 
decisions,  still  dealing  with  numbers 
entirely. 

At  the  judges'  meeting  in  Boston 
all  of  these  men  made  special  com- 
ment upon,  the  unusual  value  of  a 
large  number  of  the  essays,  and  in 
addition  to  awarding  the  four  prizes, 
wished  to  make  honorable  mention 
of  several  others. 

In  deciding  upon  the  prize  winners 
each  of  the  judges  considered  first 
whether  the  suggestions  offered  were 
really  new,  that  is,  whether  or  not  they 
opened  up  ways  of  obtaining  more 
economical  results  in  the  particular 
branch  of  the  industry  described. 
There  were  many  articles  which  sev- 
x^ral  of  these  gentlemen  commented 
upon  most  favorably,  but  on  account 
of  their  subject  matter  being  along 
lines  already  familiar,  the  original  sug- 
gestions which  were  practical  were 
given  the  preference. 

The  essays  were  pronounced  by  ev- 
ery judge  as  unusually  interesting  and 
instructive  and  the  many  valuable 
ideas  brought  out  by  the  contributors 
are  worthy  of  study.  The 
prizes  have  been  awarded  strict- 
^ly  on  the  merits  of  the  essays 
regardless  of  whether  the  author  con- 
sidered spinning,  weaving,  dyeing  or 
other  branches  of  the  industry.  The 
prize  winning  essays,  however,  cover 
both  cotton  and  woolen  manufacture 
and  include  dye  house  suggestions. 


18843 


FE^4WICK  UMPLEBY. 


THE  JUDGES 


FENWICK  UMPLEBY 

[Principal,  Bradford  Durfee  Textile  School.] 


Mr.  Fenwick  Umpleby  was  born  in 
1852  in  Huddersfield,  England,  and 
ivas  apprenticed  to  Etchells  &  Apper- 
ly,  machinists  and  manufacturers, 
South-Brent,  Devonshire  and  Horbury 
Bridge,  Yorkshire,  1865-1872.  He  v/as 
manager  and  traveler  from  1872-1874, 
and  superintondent  for  the  same  firm 
from  1874-1S77,  and  graduated  from 
the  Huddersfield  Mechanic  Institute 
in  1875.  He  was  buyer  of  wool  and 
raw  materials,  assistant  manager  and 
blend  mixer  for  John  Gledhill  &  Com- 
pany, Huddersfield,  1877-1879;  super- 
intendent and  designer  for  Hewitt, 
Haigh  &  Wilson,  Antwerp  Mills, 
Leeds,  FJngland,  from  1879-1881;  de- 
signer for  Robert  Brearley  &  Sons, 
Queen  Street  Mills,  Batley,  England, 

1881-  1885;  winner  of  four  annual  prizes 
for    designs    and    fabrics  1880-1881- 

1882-  1883.  He  was  gold  and  silver 
international  medalist  in  1884,  and 
graduated  from  Yorkshire  College  in 
1885..  and  in  this  same  year,  received 
diploma  from  City  and  Guilds  of  Lon- 
don. By  special  arrangement  he 
came  to  the  United  States  to  open  up 
and  systematize  a  new  department 
of  fancy  dress  goods  and  worsted  cas- 


simeres,  James  Lees  &  Sons,  Bridge- 
port, Pa.,  1885-1887.  He  was  de- 
signer at  the  Globe  Mills,  Utica,  N. 
Y.,  1887-1889,  and  at  the  Auburn  Mills. 
Peterborough,  Ontario,  Canada,  1889- 
1891.  He  was  head  designer  for  the 
George  H.  Gilbert  Manufacturing 
Company,  Gilbertville,  Mass.,  1891- 
1896,  and  first  instructor  and  assist- 
ant director  in  the  Lowell  Textile 
School  in  1897;  1897-1910  chief 
of  textile  design,  cloth  analysis  and 
fabric  construction,  Lowell  Textile 
School.  He  received  a  diploma  from 
the  International  Correspondence 
School,  Design  and  Ornamentation  in 
1904.  He  studied  at  Musee  Beaux- 
Arts,  Cluny  and  Ecole  des  Etrangers, 
Cours  de  Vacancies,  et  TAlliance 
Francaise,  Paris,  summers  of  1900. 
1902,  1904  and  1906;  principal  of  the 
Bradford  Durfee  Textile  School,  Fall 
River,  Mass.,  from  1910  to  date.  He 
is  a  Mason,  Odd  Fellow,  Knight  of 
the  Golden  Eagle,  Son  of  St.  George, 
member  of  the  Fall  River  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  British  Charitable  So- 
ciety of  Boston,  and  American  Coun- 
cil for  the  Leeds  University,  Eng- 
land. 


CHARLES  H.  HAMES. 


CHARLES  H.  EAMES 

[Principal,  Lowell  Textile  School.] 


Mr.  Eames  was  born  in  North  An- 
dover,  Mass.,  November  17,  1875.  He 
attended  the  public  schools  of  An- 
dover,  and  graduated  in  the  course  of 
electrical  engineering  from  the  Massa- 
chusetts Institute  of  Technology  in 
1897.  Following  his  graduation,  Mr. 
Eames  was  employed  by  the  Light, 
Heat  and  Power  Corporation,  at  Mil- 
ford,  Mass.,  and  later  became  superin- 
tendent of  their  plant  at  Lowell, 
Mass.  From  here  he  went  with  the 
Fort  Hill  Chemical  Company  as  as- 
sistant superintendent,  and   for  the 


following  four  years  ser\  ed  as  elec- 
trical engineer  for  Stone  &  Webster 
of  Boston.  He  was  next  elected  secre- 
tary of  the  Lowell  Textile  School,  and 
became  instructor  in  physics,  electric 
cal  engineering,  and  mathematics.  In 
1905,  upon  the  resignation  of  William 
W.  Crosby,  Mr.  Eames  was  elected 
principal  of  the  Lowell  Textile  School. 
Under  his  management  the  school  has 
continued  to  carry  out  its  purpose  of 
broadening  its  curriculum,  so  as  to 
afford  a  broad  technical  training  for 
young  men  entering  the  textile  in- 
dustry. 


H,  W.  NICHOLS. 


H.  W.  NICHOLS 

[Superintendent  New  Bedford  Textile  School.] 


Mr.  Nichols  graduated  from  Colby 
College,  Waterville,  Me.,  in  1895.  For 
the  next  four  years  he  worked  through 
the  different  departments  of  the  St. 
Croix  Cotton  Mills,  Milltown,  New 
Brunswick.    From  1899  to  1900  he  at- 


tended the  New  Bedford  Textile 
School,  and  for  the  following  four 
years  had  charge  of  the  Instruction 
Department  of  the  American  Corre- 
spondents' School  of  Textiles.  In 
1904  he  became  superintendent  of  the 
New  Bedford  Textile  School. 


OUR  MASTER  MECHANICS' 
SECTION 


A  Master  Mechanics'  Section  is  included 
in  our  regular  mid-monthly  Construction  Number 
of  the  American  WooIv  and  Cotton  Reporter. 
This  supplement  contains  many  instructive  and 
original  articles  written  by  master  mechanics, 
chief  engineers  and  others  employed  in  textile 
mills.  While  the  subjects  considered  in  this  de- 
partment are  of  vital  importance  as  effectin^^  more 
efficient  mill  management  and  are  thus  of  interest 
to  mill  treasurers  and  agents,  they  are  of  unusual 
value  to  textile  mill  master  mechanics,  operating 
engineers,  electricians  and  others  connected  with 
the  power  and  mechanical  side  of  the  textile  in- 
dustry. The  Master  Mechanics'  Section  is 
published  monthly. 


THOMAS  NELSON, 


THOMAS  NELSON 

t Director,   Textile  Oepartment  North  Carolina   College  of  Agriculture  and  Mechanic  Arts.] 


Mr.  Nelson  was  born  at  Preston, 
Lancashire,  England,  April  24,  1872. 
His  early  training  was  received  at 
the  public  schools  at  Preston,  and  at 
the  Harris  Institute.  Mr.  Nelson  holds 
a  certificate  from  the  city  and  guilds 
of  London  Institute,  for  weaving  and 
designing,  and  also  a  certificate  cover- 
ing the  same  subject  from  the  Preston 
Textile  School. 

In  addition  to  his  training  in  Eng- 
land, Mr.  Nelson  took  a  special  course 
in  designing  and  fabric  analysis  at 
the  Lowell  Textile  School  in  1898.  He 
has  had  practical  mill  experience  at 
the  Springfield  and  Alexandria  Mills, 
both  of  Preston,  England;  at  the 
Poneniah  Mills,  Taftville,  Conn.;  Mer- 
rimack Manufacturing  Company,  Low- 


ell, Mass;  Harriman  Manufacturing 
Company,  liOwell,  Mass.,  and  the  Blue 
Ridge  Manufacturing  Company,  Peters- 
burg, Va. 

Mr.  Nelson's  experience  in  teaching 
includes  one  year  as  instructor  in 
warp  preparation  and  tower  loom 
weaving  at  the  Lowell  Textile  School; 
instructor  in  warp  preparation,  weav- 
ing and  designing,  at  the  Agricultural 
and  Mechanical  College,  Raleigh,  N. 
C,  1901  to  1906,  and  he  is  now  director 
of  the  textile  department  at  that  col- 
lege. He  is  a  member  of  the  Ameri- 
can Cotton  Manufacturers'  Associa- 
tion, the  Southern  Textile  Association, 
and  is  the  author  of  a  practical  book 
on  Plain  and  Fancy  Loom  Fixings. 
In  1911  he  was  employed  by  the 
Tariff  Board  as  a  special  agent. 


WILLIAM  H.  DOOLEY. 


WILLIAM  H.  DOOLEY 

[Principal,  Lowell  Industrial  SchooL] 


Mr.  William  H.  Dooley  was 
born  in  Boston,  Mass.,  February  2(5, 
1880.  He  graduated  from  the  Boston 
English  High  School  as  an  honor  man 
in  mathematics  in  1897.  He  is  a  grad- 
uate of  the  Lawrence  Scientific 
School  (S.  B.)  and  the  educational 
department  of  Harvard  University. 
In  addition  to  this  he  has  taken  spe- 
cial courses  in  technical  subjects  at 
higher  schools  of  learning.  Since  he 
entered  the  high  school  he  has  worked 
during  the  summ^er  in  various  me- 
chanical establishments,  such  as  boil- 
er shops,  power  plants,  machine 
shops,  and  cotton  and  worsted  mills. 

This  experience,  coupled  with  his 
technical  and  educational  training, 
places  him  in  a  unique  position  as 


an  expert  in  industrial  and  technical 
education.  He  has  acted  in  this  ca- 
pacity of  an  expert  for  the  Commis- 
sion on  Industrial  Education  and  the 
Massachusetts  Board  of  Education  at 
various  times.  He  has  made  a  thor- 
ough investigation  of  technical  edu- 
cation and  industrial  work  in  this 
country  and  Europe.  After  graduat- 
ing from  college,  he  taught  school  in 
the  Everett,  Fitchburg  and  Lawrence 
High  Schools.  It  was  while  instructor 
in  the  Lawrence  high  school  that  he 
conceived  the  need  of  simpler  textile 
education  and  established  the  Law- 
rence Industrial  School.  Later,  he  was 
delegated  by  the  Massachusetts  State 
Board  of  Education  to  establish  a 
similar  school  in  Lowell  which  he  has 
charge  of  at  present. 


The  Prize  Winners 


EDWARD  M.  HENLEY. 

Edward  M.  Henley  was  born 
March  10,  1879,  at  Randleman, 
Randolph  County,  N.  C.  He  moved  to 
Salisbury,  N.  C,  at  an  early  age,  at 
which  place  he  attended  school  six 
months  in  the  year  and  worked  in 
the  Salisbury  Cotton  Mills*  the  other 
six.   When  about  twenty  years  of  age. 


EDWARD  M.  HENLEY. 
Winner  of  First  Prize. 


he  commenced  to  work  for  the  Prox- 
imity Manufacturing  Co.,  at  Greens- 
boro, N.  C,  where  he  spent  about 
eighteen  months  in  beaming  and  weav- 
ing and  was  then  promoted  to  loom- 
fixer,  resigning  after  some  time  to 
attend  school  for  a  few  months. 

WITH  MACHINIilRY  BUILDERS. 

Not  long  after  this  he  was  offered 
a  position  with  the  Whitin  Machine 
Works  of  Whitinsville,  Mass.,  which 
he  accepted  and  filled  for  two  years, 
later  working  with  the  Draper  Co., 
Hopedale,  Mass.,  and  the  Woonsocket 


Machine  Works,  Woonsocket,  R.  I., 
for  several  months.  He  then  re- 
turned South  and  again  accepted  a 
position  with  the  Proximity  Mfg.  Co. 
as  second  hand  in  their  weave  room. 
After  holding  this  position  for  several 
months  he  resigned  to  accept  a  similar, 
but  more  lucrative,  position  with  the 
ErAvin  Cotton  Mills  Co.,  at  West  Dur- 
ham, N.  C,  being  transferred  about 
three  years  later  to  the  large  Erwin 
cotton  mill  No.  2,  at  Duke,  N.  C,  to 
take  charge  of  the  weaving,  slashing 
and  beaming.  Three  years  later  he 
was  promoted  to  assistant  superinten- 
dent at  the  same  mill,  which  position 
he  nov/  holds. 


CHARLES  H.  CHISHOLM. 

Charles  H.  Chisholm  left  his 
native  town  of  Selkirk,  Scotland,  for 
Canada  when  a  young  man,  having  al- 
ready attained  considerable  experi- 
ence in  the  Tweed  Mills  of  that  dis- 
trict. Beginning  as  a  hander-in,  he 
passed  to  the  position  of  a  warper 
boy  and  later  became  an  apprentice 
mule  spinner,  adding  to  his  spinning 
experience  twisting  on  throstles  and 
some  card  room  work. 

In  Canada  his  interests  were  divid- 
ed, and  although  holding  responsi- 
ble positions  in  the  mill,  his  chief 
activities  were  outside.  Developing 
a  keen  interest  in  the  technical  side 
of  cloth  making,  he  moved  to  the 
United  States,  spending  two  years  in 
the  designing  room  of  the  Pioneer 
Mills  of  Pittsfield,  Maine.  He  has  held 
various  responsible  positions  in  many 
well-known  textile  mills,  thus  broad- 
ening his  experience.  Among  these 
mills  may  be  mentioned  the  G.  H. 
Gilbert  Company,  of  Gilbertsville, 
Mass.,  where  he  was  employed  for 
two  periods  of  about  three  and  one- 
half  years  each,  in  charge  of  dress- 
ing. 

At  the  Lyman  Cotton  Mills,  Hol- 
yoke,   Mass.,  he   was   in  charge  of 


both  the  coarse  and  fancy  dressing 
department.  In  1905  he  took  charge 
of  the  dressing  department  of  the 
Arlington  Mills,  under  J.  W.  Armitage, 
superintendent  of  cloth  department, 


CHARLES  H.  CHISHOLM. 
Winner  of  Second  Prize. 


resigning  this  position  after  two  and 
one-half  years.  He  then  entered  the 
service  of  a  textile  journal  as  man- 
ager of  labor  bureau  and  contributor, 
leaving  that  company  after  15  months' 
service  to  take  up  the  larger  position 
he  now  holds  with  Frank  P.  Bennett 
Company,  Inc.,  as  manager  of  the  De- 
partment of  Skilled  Labor  and  mem- 
ber of  the  editorial  staff  of  the  Ameri- 
can Wool  and  Cotton  Reporter. 


HARRY  TWIGG. 

Harry  Twigg  was  born  in  Jed- 
burgh, one  of  the  picturesque  towns 
of  the  celebrated  Tweed  district  of 
the  south  of  Scotland.  His  father  was 
in  the  dyeing  trade  there,  also  in  the 


neighboring  town  of  Galashiels;  and 
later,  farther  north  in  Keith,  from 
whence  he  ventured  across  the  At- 
lantic with  a  view  to  leaving  factory 
employment  and  going  into  farming. 

It  had  always  been  planned  that 
Harry,  his  first-born,  should  enter  "a 
profession";  but  the  lad's  health  prov- 
ing unequal  to  the  ordeal  of  an  ex- 
tended preparatory  term,  he  took  up 
his  father's  calling,  and  went  to  work 
eventually  in  a  Kensington  dye  house 
in  Philadelphia.  From  there  he  be- 
came dyer  in  woolen  mills  at  St.  Hya- 
cinthe,  and  Sherbrooke,  Quebec. 
Later  he  returned  to  the  States,  and 
spent  between  two  or  three  years  in 
the  West. 

Business  becoming  very  dull  in  his 


HARRY  TWIGG. 
Winner  of  Third  Prize. 


own  line  of  work  there,  he  entered  a 
western  college  for  a  short  time,  tak- 
ing selective  studies  in  chemistry, 
science,  and  two  other  lines.    He  then 


became  dyer  for  one  of  the  factories 
in  Cornwall,  Ontario. 

Another  move  took  him  to  the  en- 
terprising town  of  Campbellford  in 
the  same  province.  During  the  last 
two  years  he  has  held  a  responsible 
position  in  the  city  of  Toronto. 


W.   C.  HALL. 

Mr.  Hall  was  born  in  Windsor,  Nova 
Scotia,  in  1867.  About  twenty-nine 
years  ago  he  commenced  his  work  on 
textile  machinery,  being  employed  as 
an  erecting  hand,  setting  up  card 
room  and  spinning  machinery.  In 
order  to  get  a  thorough  understand- 
ing of  the  cotton  business,  Mr.  Hall 
decided  to  work  through  all  the  de- 
partments of  some  large  mill,  and 
therefore,  began  in  the  opening  room 
of  the  Windsor  Cotton  Mill.  In  this 
department  he  was  given  various 
work,  including  testing  the  cotton  and 
feeding  the  bale  openers.  He  then 
worked  for  some  time  in  the  picker 
department,  and  after  having  consid- 
erable general  experience  here,  had 
an  opportunity  to  work  in  the  card 
room.  After  spending  considerable 
time  in  this  department  and  obtain- 
ing experience  in  operating  the  card- 
ing machinery,  and  in  grinding  the 
flats,  Mr.  Hall  was  made  second  hand 
of  the  card  room.  He  held  this  posi- 
tion for  three  years. 

ENTERED  WASHINGTON  MILLS. 

He  left  his  position  with  the  Wind- 
sor Mill,  to  come  to  the  United  States, 
and  upon  arriving  in  this  country,  ac- 
cepted a  position  in  the  Washington 
Mills  at  T-^awrence,  Mass.  Here  he 
entered  the  belt  department,  covering 
rolls  and  keeping  some  of  the  driving 
belts  in  proper  condition.  He  next 
became  second  hand  of  carding  with 
the  Ipswich  Hosiery  Mill,  Ipswichs, 
Mass.,  and  held  this  position  two  and 
a  half  years,  and  next  went  with  the 
Pemberton  Cotton  Mills,  at  Lawrence, 
Mass. 

From  this  position  Mr.  Hall  became 
overseer  of  carding  at  the  Slater  Cot- 


ton Mills,  North  Webster,  Mass.  He 
later  became  overseer  of  carding  in 
a  hosiery  mill,  at  which  plant  he  also 
had  charge  of  the  fine  spinning.  He 
held  this  position  for  about  nine  years, 
and  was  next  made  assistant  super- 
intendent in  erecting  machinery  and 
starting  up  a  new  yarn  mill  for  this 
same  company.  A-fter  putting  in  con- 
siderable time  at  a  knitting  mill  in 
Valatie,  New  York,  where  he  re- 
arranged and  reorganized  the  carding 


W.  C.  HALL. 
Winner  of  Fourth  Prize. 


department,  Mr.  Hall  accepted  his 
present  position  as  overseer  of  card- 
ing with  the  Skenandoa  Cotton  Com- 
pany, Utica,  New  York. 

In  addition  to  the  exceptionally 
broad  practical  training  which  Mr. 
Hall  has  had  in  the  mills-,  he  has  com- 
pleted a  thorough  correspondence 
course  in  carding,  spinning  and  plain 
weaving. 


Textile  Defects  and  Suggestions 


THE  WOOLEN  CARD  ROOM 


The  changes  that  have  been  made 
in  the  woolem  card  room  of  late  years 
have  been  in  the  wrong  direction  by 
dispeLnsing  with  the  creel  on  the  sec- 
ond breaker  card  and  applying  the 
Append  feed  to  take  the  place  of  the 
creel,  which  in  my  experience  is  in 
the  wro'ng  direction  to  get  good  mixes 
and  even  yarn.  It  may  pass  mus- 
ter om  coarse,  heavy  yarns,  but  it  will 
not  do  for  fine  yarns  as  you  can  read- 
ily see  that  by  so  doing  we  have  lost 
the  evening  and  mixing  part  that  we 
get  from  'the  creel,  therefore  we  are 
liaible  to  have  uneven  mixes  as  well  as 
uneven  yarn  from  the  direct  feeding, 
and  any  good  carder  will  bear  me  out 
on  the  above  statement.  But  to  run 
three  separate  cards  tandem  with  five 
separate  belts  and  keep  them  all  in 
unison  is  a  very  hard  thing  to  do.  I 
still  beMeve  that  every  carder  would 
be  willing  to  apply  the  Apperly  feed 
on  the  second  breaker  in  place  of  the 
creel  if  he  could  get  perfect  results. 

We  can  get 

BETTER  RESULTS 
by  adding  the  metallic  breast  to  the 
first  breaker  card  with  not  less  than 
a  16-inch  cylinder.  Then  we  could  af- 
ford to  couple  the  breaker  and  finisher 
together  and  dispense  with  one  main 
driving  belt  and  thereby  produce  a 
more  even  and  stronger  yarn.  I  am  a 
firm  bv^liever  in  three  cards  to  the  set, 
with  the  creel  on  the  second  breaker, 
but  I  prefer  four  cards  per  set  vjith 
the  direct  feeds.  There  are  other 
minor  applianceis  that  can  be  used  to 
advantMse  on  the  different  classes  of 
stock  that  are  mixed  together,  such  as 
wool,  shoddy  and  cotton,  that  make  it 


necessary  to  use  covers  over  the  fancy, 
also  cod  ers  over  the  traverse  and  gear 
parts  of  the  Bates  Apperly  feeds,  or  I 
might  say  all  Apperly  feeds,  so  they 
will  not  g'et  clogged  with  waste  from 
flyings  and  cause  the  belts  that  drive 
them  to  slip. 

Now  in  regard  to  rub  rolls 
and  aprons,  I  will  say  that  in  my 
experience  I  .find  that  the  rub  rolls 
are  bv  far  the  best  when  you  liave 
to  maiie  fine  roving  from  wide  rings. 
The  apron  rub  is  all  right  for  rub- 
bing or  condensing,  but  when  you 
make  fine  roving,  the  lub  rolls  are  the 
best,  as  they  enable  you  to  fill  up  the 
rings  with  stock  enough  to  strip  them 
easily  and  bring  the  roving  out  finer 
with  the  draft  that  we  have  from  each 
roller,  11-13  or  15  rub  rolls.  I  also 
find  where  the  splice  on  the  apron  rub 
does  not  condense  the  stock  prop- 
erly and  causes 

THE  ROVING 

to  come  out  in  flat  places,  that  a  care- 
less spinner  can  kill  the  very  best  of 
carders  by  allowing  the  (iarriage  of 
the  mnle  to  start  out  too  quickly  for 
the  delivery  from  the  rollers. 

Then  again  he  can  twist  up  the  yarn 
faster  than  the  carriage  eases  up  and 
twist  down  more  or  less  threads  and 
then  say  that  it  spins  badly  when  he 
himself  is  the  cause  of  it  all.  Perhaps 
he  has  too  much  spun  yarn  that  he 
does  not  wind  on  the  bobbin  that  gives 
him  too  much  ieng^th  on  the  next 
stretch,  as  kinks  of  yarn  are  on  the 
bare  part  of  the  bobbin  and  some  of 
them  will  draw  off  and  some  of  them 
may  not.  Then  again  he  may  have 
the  top  of  the  spindle  too  much  below 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


6 

the  roller  rdid  because  he  fills  the  bob- 
bin too  full  he  will  have  yarn  on  the 
top  of  the  bobbin  and  then  blame  the 
carder  for  making  unewn  roving.  In 
some  cases  carders  are  blamed  and  the 
fault  may  have  been  in  the  dye  house, 
where  the  dyer  has  boiled  all  the  life 
out  of  the  stock  and  made  it  all  into 
balls  by  coloring  on  the  top  of  greasy 
stock  and  rolling  it  up  in  a  circle  dye- 
ing machine  cylinder,  which  is  all 
wrong.  Then  he  blames  the  carder 
for  not  being  able  to  make  good  from 
it.  No.  1. 


FAULTS  IN  WORSTED 
MANUFACTURE. 


In  the  manufacture  of  worsted  cloth" 
perhaps  the  greatest  trouble  is  found 
in  the  coarse  threads  and  slubs  or  bad 
piecings.  This  has  been  our  observa- 
tion. Now  without  going  into  the  mat- 
ter of  how  these  defects  are  made,  in 
detail,  allow  me  to  attribute  the  chief 
cause  to  the  lack  of  teaching  in  our 
mills.  If  the  overseers  taught  the  oper- 
atives to  do  their  work  properly  these 
defects  would  be  reduced  to  a  mini- 
mum. In  Europe  this  teaching  process 
is  diligently  carried  out.  The  child 
comes  into  the  mill  as  soon  as  old 
enough  and  begins  at  the  bottom  and 
is  taught  step  by  step  to  do  its  work 
properly  and  to  detect  any  poor  work- 
manship in  the  preceding  processes. 
The  drawer  finds  the  poor  work  made 
in  the  combing.  The  spinner  finds  the 
poor  work  made  in  the  drawing.  The 
twister  find  the  poor  work  made  in 
the  spinning  and  so  on  all  through. 

A^DVANTAGE  OP  SYSTEM. 

With  a  system  like  this  carried  out  it 
is  clearly  apparent  that  when 
the  finished  product  leaves  the  mill 
it  is  pretty  nearly  perfect.  When  each 
operative  knows  that  his  work  will  be 
carefully  scrutinized  by  the  next  in 
order  to  whom  it  has  to  go,  he  will  try 


his  best  to  send  it  along  in  the  best 
possible  shape.  And  with  a  mill  full 
of  help  and  overseers  working  along 
these  lines  I  venture  to  predict  that 
such  a  mill  will  make  an  enviable  rep- 
utation for  the  excellence  of  its  output. 

Now  briefly  where  are  the  above  de- 
fects made?  And  how  are  they  made? 
In  the  drawing  room  the  operative 
neglects  to  take  out  his  piecings  and 
they  go  along  and  are  drafted  in  each 
operation  and  when  they  come  to  the 
spinning  they  appear  as  heavy  roving 
and  make  coarse  or  heavy  yarn.  Again, 
sometimes  the  spinner  lets  one  thread 
run  into  the  other  and  instead  of  pull- 
ing it  back  allows  it  to  go,  after  break- 
ing it  off,  and  this  makes  another  kind 
of  coarse  yarn.  And  yet  again,  some- 
times the  spinner,  when  making 
piecings  doe^s  not  take  off  all  the  lap 
but  allows  some  of  it  to  run  down  as 
yarn ;  this  is  what  is  often  called  slubs 
and  slugs  and  other  names  which  seem 
to  suggest  themselves  to  the  weavers. 
DEFECTS. 

These  defects  are  woven  into  the 
cloth  and  in  the  mad  rush  for  produc- 
tion the  weaver  fails  to  take  them  out 
and  they  come  to  the  burler,  who  is 
there  for  the  express  purpose  of  taking 
them  out.  But  a  piece  that  has  been 
mended  is  never  quite  equal  to  one 
that  never  needed  mending. 

Now  there  is  no  real  need  of  bad 
work  getting  through  if  all  are  doing 
their  best  to  prevent  it.  If  all  work  in 
unison,  with  a  high  standard  of  excel- 
lence in  mind,  they  will  certainly  ap- 
proximate their  aims.  I  would  again 
emphasize  the  great  necessity  of  hav- 
ing help  patiently  but  firmly  taught 
to  do  their  work  right.  This  can  be 
done  and  should  be.  It  is  not  tyranny 
to  demand  high  standards.  If  we  at- 
tain to  them  we  can  afford  to  pay  for 
them.  The  skillfull,  reliable  operative 
is  worth  more  than  the  slipshod  one 
who  needs  watching  about  all  of  the 
time. 

The  overseer  who  is  the  best  teach- 
er is  also  the  best  man  among  a  lot 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


1 


of  mill  help.  A  good  teacher  is  usually 
a  good  manager.  Give  me  a  man  who 
can  patiently  show  the  operative  how, 
a  man  who  can  do  it  with  his  own 
fingers;  one  who  can  demonstrate  just 
what  he  wants  his  help  to  do.  This 
man  will  succeed.  The  mill  with  such 
men  will  succeed.  The  help  in  such  a 
mill  will  be  contented  and  happy.  Their 
motto  will  be  simple  excellence. 

No.  2. 


THE  SOFTENING  OF  AN 
IRON  BUFF. 


To  the  textile  colorist  the  dyeing  of 
iron  ambers  or  buffs,  as  they  are  com- 
monly termed,  is  in  general  moi'e  or 
less  understood,  but  a  brief  outline 
of  it  he  process  appears  to  be  the  moist 
satisfactory  way  of  giving  this  topic 
its  true  isignificance. 

The  coloring  is  accomplished  by  first 
impregnating  the  material  (yarn  in 
this  instance)  with  a  solution  of  some 
iron  compound,  then  oxidizing  by  a 
passag'^  through  .some  alkaline  oxidiz- 
ing agent,  usually  sodium  carboa'jajte 
(Na2C03)  oir  caustic  soda  (NaOH). 
SubseQuentt  additions. to  these  baths, 
together  with  repeated  passages  of  the 
yarn  through  the  same,  give  the  depth 
of  shade  required.  The  resulting  color 
is,  of  course,  an  oxide  of  iron  (Pe). 
The  treatment,  whicii  is  of  a  purely 
mechanical  nature,  admits  of  no  con- 
siderable penetration  of  the  fibre,  con- 
sequently depositing  the  color  upon 
the  surface. 

Oils  and  soaps  used  as  a  wash  tem- 
porarily soften  the  yarn  and  prevent 
harshness,  and  it  may  cause  no  par- 
ticular annoyance  in  the  preparation 
of  the  warp  for  the  loom,  as  the  yarn 
may  be  in  a  partially  dried  condition. 
After  becoming  thoroughly  dry,  how- 
ever, 

THE  DISAGREEABLE  FEATURE 
of  the  coloring  matter  asserts  itself. 


The  constant  jar  of  the  looms  causeiS 
a  fine  cloud  of  the  oxide  of  iron  (which 
is  in  reality  iron  rust)  to  arise,  fioat 
around,  and  finally  settle  upon  ma- 
chinery or  any  object  within  a  radius 
of  several  feet,  besides  being  constant- 
ly inhaled  by  those  employed  to  oper- 
ate the  machinery,  who  are  compelled 
tx)  remain  in  close  proximity  to  the 
dust.  The  trouble  is  not  alone  confin- 
ed 'to  tliis  department,  but  is  very  €vi- 
dent  in  the  finishing  of  the  goods, 
where  the  harshness  rather  than  the 
loose  color  is  felt. 

While  some  ot  the  more  modern 
methods  of  producing  this  color  elim- 
inate this  objectionable  leature,  ithe 
fastness  of  the  dyed  fabric  is  de- 
creasei^,  for  up  to  the  present  time  I 
have  bt  en  unable  to  find  a  color 
which  would  compare  favorably  with 
that  ali  eady  mentioned,  under  the  v.on- 
ditions  to  which  awnings  and  similar 
goods  are  subjected.  No.  3. 


MAKING  BETTER  YARN. 


When  I  pick  up  a  textile  paper,  I 
eagerly  look  it  over  to  see  if  there  is 
anything  ;n  it  about  carding  or  spin- 
ning. If  I  happen  to  find  anything 
treating  on  that  subject,  it  is  read  and 
reread  until  1  have  it  by  heart. 
Most  likely  other  carders  and  spin- 
ners feel  the  same.  The  only  fault  I 
find  with  most  articles  I  have  hereto* 
fore  read,  is  that  they  do  not  go  into 
details  enough.  When  we  read  any- 
thing about  the  business  we  are  en- 
gaged in,  we  are  generally  looking  for 
information,  looking  for  points  as  it 
were.  Now  I  believe  that  it 
would  be  a  good  plan  for  all  the  card- 
ers and  spinners  to  agree  on  the 
''American  Wool  and  Cotton  Re- 
porter," and  let  eacn  overseer  write  a 
series  of  letters  for  publication,  giving 
as  much  information  as  lies  in  his 
power.  I  think  it  would  be 
a  great  benefit  to  all  of  us,  and  I  will 


8 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


now  give  you  my  reasons  for  thus 
thinking.  We  will  say  that  a  mill  has 

FOR  A  LONG  TIME 
been  running  on  a  coarse  grade  of 
goods,  using  coarse  stock.  The  man- 
ager sees  a  chance  to  make  more  mon- 
ey by  making  an  extra  fine  grade,  and 
decides  to  make  samples  of  ten  run 
double  and  twist.  The  carder  gets  it 
on  the  card,  but  the  stock,  being  so 
much  different,  and  requiring  such  a 
radical  change  in  treatment,  of  course 
there  is  trouble,  and  the  poor  carder 
is  at  his  wits  ends,  as  they  are  hurry- 
ing him  to  get  me  samples  througn. 
He  claim's  the  stock  is  not  fit  for  ten 
run.  The  manager  makes  enquiries  and 
finds  it  is  the  same  as  they  are  using 
in  another  mill  which  has  been  making 
fine  goods  for  a  long  time,  and  that 
they  have  no  trouble  whatever  in  mak- 
ing it  go,  in  fact  they  call  it  excellent 
work.  The  carder  in  mill  number  one 
can  not  be  made  to  believe  ihis,  and 
finally  the  manager  of  mill  number 
one,  who  is  a  personal  friend  of  the 
manager  in  mill  number  two,  gets 
permission  to  bring  his  carder  and 
let  him  see  for  himself  how  it  goes. 
They  go,  but  it  is  the  managei  instead 
of  the  carder  that  gets  the  surprise. 
The  stock  is  practically  the  same,  but 
everything  else  is  different.  The  oil 
used  in  picking  is  different,  the  wire 
on  the  cards  is  many  numbers  finer, 
the  rings  on  doffers  are  narroiwer.  al- 
lowing the  stock  to  cover  them,  leav- 
ing no  bare  spots,  the  diameter  of 
the  doffers  is  twice  as  large,  allowing 
them  to  remain  against  the  cylinder 
longer,  and  many  other  changes  that 
I  might  mention.  Eventually  the  card 
er  in  mill  number  one,  would  have 
worked  out  all  of  those  changes  him- 
self, but  it  would  have  taken  time, 
and  if  he  got  the  samples  out  it  would 
be  too  late  in  the  season  to  get  orders ; 
there  would  be  a  lot  of  stock  wasted, 
and  altogether  it  would  be  a  rather 
costly  change  to  make.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  mill  number  two  were  to 
change  to  coarse  goods,  they  would 


meet  with  the  same  difficulty  and  per- 
haps worse,  as  I  think  it  easier  to 
change  from  coarse  to  fine  than  from 
line  to  coarse.  But  supposing  there 
had  been  an  exchange  of  letters  in 
some  textile  paper,  and  that  each  over- 
seer had  a  scrap  book  in  which  he 
would  paste  any  article  that  came  in 
his  line,  and  have  an  index  so  as  to 
readily  find  the  right  place,  and  could 
see  just  what  change  would  be  re- 
quired, how  much  unnecessary  ex- 
pense it  would  save.  The  manager 
could  figure  what  it  would  cost  him  to 
make  the  required  changes.  He  would 
have  time  to  order  his  clothing  and 
get  a  set  ready  for  samples,  and  above 
all,  he  w^ould  not  suspect  his  overseers 
of  lack  of  skill. 

THE  MOST  IMPORTANT 

as  well  as  difficult  step  in  the  manu- 
facturing of  a  perfect  piece  of  cloth, 
is  in  getting  perfect  yarn.  You  may 
get  the  most  expert  weavers,  the  most 
skillful  finishers,  but  if  the  yarn  is  im- 
perfect you  can  not  make  perfect 
cloth.  I  venture  to  say  that  eighty  per 
cent  of  the  damages  in  cloth  are  due 
to  imperfections  in  yarn.  I  think  every 
manager  should  encourage  anything 
that  would  tend  to  give  them  more 
perfect  carding  and  spinning.  Now  in 
fancy  I  can  hear  some  spinner  (who 
perhaps  feels  as  I  felt  twenty  years 
ago)  say,  I  can  learn  no  more  about 
mules  or  spinning.  When  I  look  back 
twenty  years  I  wonder  how  I  ever  got 
by.  And  perhaps  some  manager  will 
say,  I  am  not  fool  enough  to  tell  how 
I  make  my  yarn.  My  dear  friends  it 
is  just  this,  you  hold  four  spades  and 
a  club,  I  hold  four  clubs  and  a  spade. 
Neither  hand  is  complete,  but  you 
give  me  your  club  and  I  give  you  my 
spade,  and  we  are  mutually  benefited. 
Brother  overseers  what  say  you,  will 
you  join  me  and  push  this  along.  It 
looks  good  to  me.  T  will  start  the  bal^ 
rolling  by  writing  a  series  of  letters 
on  spinning,  winding,  twisting,  setting 
up  mules,  and  other  machinery.  (I 
have  set  up  a  great  many  mules  in 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


9 


my  time.)  The  making  of  all  kinds 
ot  silk  twist,  how  to  make  silk  twist 
on  a  mule;  how  to  make  knubby 
yarns  of  all  description;  the  speed  to 
run  twisters  to  get  best  results:  what 
causes  certain  castings  on  mules  to 
Dreak  frequently;  and  how  to  avoid  It; 
Qow  to  stop  mules  from  rebounding, 
and  a  great  many  other  points  of  Inter- 
ast  to  spinners,  and  now  there  is  an- 
Dther  suggestion  I  would  like  to  make. 
Why  not  start  a  sort  of  information 
bureau  or  Question  box.  in  a  space  in 
the  "American  Wool  and  Cotton  Re- 
porter," for  asking  and  answering 
questions  Something  on  this  line:  — 
B.  D.  L.  Wants  to  know  what  causes 
his  single  size  silk  to  cutY 

D.  M.  Wants  to  know  what  advant- 
age there  is  in  running  double  rolls  on 
silk  twisters. 

I  think  there  are  a  great  many  man- 
agers of  mills  who  would  be  glad  of 
this,  as  there  are  a  hundred  and  one 
little  thiings  cropping  up  that  we  could 
help  each  other  in.  In  order  to  start 
this  question  box  I  will  agree  to  an- 
swer any  question  on  spinning,  wind- 
ing or  twisting  to  any  subscriber  to 
thi's  paper  and  it  will  cost  him  nothing 
but  postage,  and  if  possible  next  week 
I  will  send  my  first  letter  on  spinning 

NO.  4. 


"THE  LATEST  IN  INDIGO." 


In  this  day  and  time  when  the  mat- 
ter of  cost  enters  so  very  largely  into 
the  making  of  a  yard  of  cloth,  every 
manufacturer  is  on  the  lookout  for  the 
best  article  at  the  least  cost. 

Over  50%  of  all  colored  cotton  cloth 
is  some  kind  of  blue,  and  it  is  the 
concensus  of  opinion  among  manufac- 
turers that  indigo  blue  is  the  best  ar- 
ticle all  round.  Of  course  there  are 
costlier  blues  and  cheaper  blues,  but 
indigo  averages  up  the  best  when  you 


consider  its  fastness,  and  also  the 
fact  that  the  retail  merchant  is  always 
satisfied  when  he  gets  an  indigo  blue 
dyed  piece  of  cloth. 

In  this  country  the  indigo  blue  dye- 
stuff  can  not  be  bought  any  cheaper 
from  one  concern  than  from  another,  as 
the  price  of  indigo  is  standard.  So, 
therefore,  the  only  way  that  a  manu- 
facturer eould  lower  his  cost  would  be 
in  the  manipulation  in  his  dyehouse. 

The  most  common  process  of  dyeing 
indigo  blues,  and  the  one  which  Is 
adopted  in  most  cotton  mills  is  to  dye 
the  yarns  in  single  separate  chains. 
These  chains  are  usually  from  6,000  to 
10,000  yards  long,  and  are  composed 
of  from  400  to  600  threads  each, 
the  number  of  yarn  of  course  depend- 
ing on  the  class  of  goods  they  are  go- 
ing into. 

This  process  takes  from  one  to  two 
whole  days,  (including  washing)  and  is 
so  long  drawn  out,  that  it  takes  care- 
ful watching  during  the  ayelng  so  as 
not  to  have  uneven  shades,  especially 
when  the  blues  are  going  into  a  fine 
piece  of  chambray  cloth. 

SCOTCH  TUB  SYSTEM. 

Now  in  some  mills,  where  they  are 
making  fancy  ginghams,  they  have 
what  they  call  the  Scotch  tub  system 
of  dyeing,  that  is  the  yarn  in  the  dye 
house  is  doubled  down  from  8,000 
yards  to  500  or  even  250  yards  long, 
and  run  through  the  dye  vats  in  this 
shape. 

This  process  insures  quick  results, 
and  fancy  colors  are  dyed  in  one  to 
four  hours  at  most.  For  a  long  time 
dyers  were  of  the  opinion  that  indigo 
could  not  be  dyed  in  this  manner,  as 
indigo  is  dyed  cold,  and  it  was  thought 
that  the  dye  would  not  penetrate  the 
thick  doubled  mass  of  yarn  enough  to 
make  an  even  shade.  The  writer  was 
like  the  balance  till  he  tried  dyeing 
indigo  in  bulk,  and  am  pleased  to 
say  that  we  have  been  dyeing  600  lb. 
sets,  (including  stuflang  and  washing) 


10 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


in  less  than  four  hours,  and  our  ma- 
chine is  so  arranged  with  long  squeeze 
rolls  and  an  extra  delivery  roll  in 
front,  that  we  can  dye  two  600  lb.  sets 
at  the  same  time  on  the  one  machine, 
when  necessary,  keeping  both  sets  of 
warps  apart  in  their  passage  through 
the  vat. 

We  had  to  dye  it  in  this  manner,  as 
the  warps  came  from  the  warpers  to 
be  dyed  anywhere  from  30  threads  to 
600  threads  thick  and  also  different 
lengths,  so  we  had  to  double  them  up 
to  facilitate  dyeing.  The  writer  was 
certainly  surprised  at  the  good  results 
obtained  on  dark  shades  of  7%,  and  in 
such  a  short  time  as  compared  with 
the  old  process — 4  hours  as  against  2 
days. 

VATS. 

Our  indigo  vats  are  7  feet  long,  2^/^ 
feet  wide  and  6i^  feet  deep  and  are 
rigged  up  with  removable  sets  of  rolls 
at  each  end,  with  plenty  of  space  be- 
tween the  guiding  pins,  so  the  yarn 
can  spread  in  its  passage  through  the 
vat,  and  when  it  strikes  the  squeeze- 
rolls,  the  yarn  has  a  spread  of  over 
10  inches,  which  enables  the  dye  liquor 
to  be  squeezed  out  good.  The  dyeing 
machine  is  fixed  so  we  can  slide  all 
the  upper  rigging,  (including  squeeze 
rolls  and  frames  in  vat)  along  to  other 
vats,  and  when  vats  are  all  in  a  row 
we  can  use  one  set  of  upper  rigging 
on  all  the  vats.  Our  squeeze  rolls  de- 
liver about  27  yards  per  minute,  which 
is  fast  enough  for  this  process.  We 
reduce  our  indigo  in  bbls. — as  follows: 
100  libs.  Badishe's  or  Metz's  synthetic 
indigo,  25  lbs.  solid  bisulphide  of  soda, 
6  lbs.  zinc  dust,  and  25  lbs.  caustic 
soda.  This  mixture  makes  50  gallons 
liquor.  We  spring  our  vat  with  8  lbs. 
bisulphide  and  2  lbs.  zinc  dust,  and 
add  7%  of  reduced  indigo  per  100 
lbs.  yarn,  give  set  2  runs',  1  hot  wash 
and  1  cold  running  wash,  and  the  re- 
sult is  a  very  fine  dark  blue. 

Outside  of  the  cost  of  dyestuff,  which 
is  the  same  under  any  process,  our  sys- 
tem is  very  much  cheaper  to  work 


than  the  old  way,  as  the  writer  has 
tried  both  and  is  thoroughly  convinced 
of  that  fact.  No.  6. 


SPOOLING. 


In  considering  improvements  that 
ought  to  be  made  in  cotton  mill  meth- 
ods, anyone  who  thoroughly  under- 
stands the  situation  cannot  help  be- 
ing impressed  with  the  necessity  for 
some  radical  change  in  the  handling 
of  single  yarns  after  they  leave  the 
spinning  frames.  It  must  be  borne  m 
mind  that  in  this  article  I  refer  only  to 
yarns  that  are  going  to  be  woven  in 
the  single.  A  spinner's  bobbin  does 
not  hold  length  of  yarn  sufficient  to 
enable  us  to  warp  a  section  beam  from 
the  same,  consequently  we  turn  to  the 
spooling  frame,  and  by  winding  the 
yarn  from  a  number  of  small  spinner's 
bobbins  on  a  larger  spool,  overcome 
the  difficulty.  The  cost  of  this  simple 
operation,  though,  ranges  from  20 
cents  to  $1.15  per  100  pounds  of  yarn 
spooled. 

It  was,  in  times  past,  considered 
necessary  to  run  the  yarn  through  an 
almost  closed  guide,  which  was  sup- 
posed to  take  out  the  bunches,  slugs, 
etc.  In  fact,  there  are  some  mills 
which  use  those  guides  to-day.  The 
benefit  derived  from  guides  "on  single 
yarns,"  however,  is  largely  imaginary. 
For  every  slug  or  bunch  which  breaks 
at  the  guide,  there  are  ten  which  not 
only  do  not  break,  but  actually  flatten 
out  to  two  or'  three  times  their  origi- 
nal width.  While  there  may  be  some 
mill  men  who  doubt  this  statement, 
its  correctness  has  been  proved  by 
tests,  covering  a  very  wide  range  of 
yarns.    This  being  the  case, 

THE  ONLY  ADVANTAGE 
gained  in  spooling  is   the  additional 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


11 


length  of  yarn  given  to  the  warper, 
and  essential  though  it  is  that  we  get 
this  extra  length,  the  cost  is  out  of 
all  proportion  to  the  benefit  received. 

Here,  then,  is  where  the  next  great 
improvement  in  the  handling  of  cot- 
ton yarns  should  take  place.  It  is  high 
time  that  some  system  was  introduced 
to  entirely  dispense  with  the  spooling 
frame.  There  are  two  ways  in  which 
this  could  be  accomplished.  First,  by 
so 'improving  the  spinning  frame  that 
a  bobbin  would  hold  a  length  of  yarn 
sufficient  for  one  section  beam,  or 
secondly,  by  the  introduction  of  an 
automatic  warper,  using  spinners'  bob- 
bins instead  of  spools,  and  having  an 
attachment  so  that  when  a  bobbin 
runs  empty,  it  will  be  immediately 
replaced  by  a  full  bobbin,  the  same 
operation  tying  the  ends  together  so 
as  to  provide  continuous  running.  The 
valid  objections  to  the  first  plan  are 
so  numerous  that  it  would  be  folly 
to  look  for  the  improvement  of  the 
spinning  frame  in  the  manner  indi- 
cated, and  it  is  to  the  second  prop- 
osition that  we  must  look  for  the  ul- 
timate success  of  any  efforts  to  dis- 
pense with  spooling.  The  perfection 
of  such  a  machine  is,  I  know, 

A  STUPENDOUS  TASK, 

But  is  far  from  being  an  impossible 
one.  That  it  will  prove  too  much 
for  a  generation  that  has  already  given 
us  automatic  looms,  drawing-in  ma- 
chines, and  warp-tying  machines,  to 
mention  only  a  few  of  the  more  prom- 
inent modern  improvements,  is  unbe- 
lievable. One  of  the  reasons,  I  sup- 
pose, why  no  sustained  efforts  have 
previously  been  made  in  this  direction, 
was  the  almost  universal  belief  in  the 
efficacy  of  the  spooler  guides,  but  now 
that  this  belief,  along  with  a  lot  of 
other  old-fashioned  notions,  is  passing 
away,  there  is  no  reason  why  an  at- 
tempt should  not  be  made  to  get  out 
of  the  rut.  Manufacturers,  indeed, 
should  bear  In  mind  that  the  demand 
for  almost  anything  only  requires  to 
be  made  known,  and  some  enterpris- 


ing individual  will  come  along  pre- 
pared to  supply  their  wants. 

No.  6. 


CARDING. 


In  writing  an  article  on  carding  let 
me  start  with  the  picker  room,  a  most 
important  room.  First,  I  see  that  the 
burr  pickers  are  in  proper  condition 
and  have  the  fliers  that  throw  out  the 
burrs  in  good  order.  I  get  them  planed 
when  they  get  rounded  and  then  set 
them  close  to  take  out  burrs  and  all 
foreign  matter.  Then  lubricate  your 
stock  well  and  pass  through  the  mixing 
picker  until  all  is  thoroughly  mixed. 
Then  we  start  in  the  card  room.  See 
that  the  grinding  rollers  are  properly 
covered,  say  with  No.  8  or  9  emery. 
In  covering,  I  first  v/ind  the  roller  or 
traverse  grinder  with  stout  twine,  then 
put  on  all  the  glue  (Le  Page's)  it  will 
hold,  then  shower  on  emery  and  do 
not  roll  it,  but  let  it  get  thoroughly  dry* 
Then  put  in  the  lathe  and  with  har- 
dened tool  knock  off  high  points  and 
then  size  with  a  weaker  glue.  Your 
rollers  are  then  fit  for  work.  The  dia- 
mond points  of  emery  pass  in  between 
the  wire  and  make  the  round  smooth 
point  so  essential  to  carding.  Have  a 
creel  between  the  first  and  second 
breaker  and  two  cylinders  in  the  fin- 
isher. If  possible  have  a  fancy  on  lick- 
erin  put  on  very  light  and  as  close  to 
the  tumbler  as  possible.  In  doing  this 
I  never  need  to  clean  lickerins.  Let 
the  lickerin  fill  up  full  but  have  your 
fancy  so  it  will  keep  the  points  clear. 
Keep  the  top  feed  roll  full,  the  bot- 
tom clean  and  the  stock  will  go  to  the 
cylinder  all  right.  In  grinding  rings 
1  grind  until  they  are  perfectly  smooth, 
then  clean  up  with  a  hand  card  and 
waste.  Before  starting  the  finisher  I 
put  on  the  ring  strippers  and  let  them 
strip  rings  as  the  stock  comes  through; 
in  doing  so  I  never  have  any  trouble. 

No.  7. 


12 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS 


AND 


SUGGESTIONS. 


WOOL  SPINNING. 


As  a  mule  spinner  I  spun  sev- 
eral kinds  of  wool  yarns  from  a 
few  cuts  to  a  pound  to  over  50  cuts.  I 
spun  for  a  firm  which  at  one  time 
ran  over  20,000  spindles  in  wool  yarns 
alone.  The  finest  yarn  was  spun  on 
mules  built  especially  for  that  kind 
of  work,  with  spindles  from  the  whirl 
to  the  top  not  less  than  one-fourth 
inch,  some  of  them  more.  It  is  a  well- 
known  fact  among  spinners  that  as  the 
cops  get  full  in  spinning,  the  yarn  has 
a  tendency  to  rove  off,  thus  making 
the  yarn  a  little  heavier  and  a  little 
harder  to  extend.  To  obviate  that  and 
make  the  yarn  more  alike,  we  had  on 
those  fine  mules 

A  OATCH 
about  five  inches  long  swung  on  a  pin 
fastened  on  the  frame  about  two  feet 
from  the  rollers,  so  that  the  fullfer  rod 
caught  it  when  the  carriage  was  going 
in.  Attached  to  that  catch  was  a 
small  chair '  connected  to  the  slide, 
which  drew  the  rollers  into  gear 
The  result  was  when  the  carriage  was 
In  about  one  inch  of  roving  it  was 
drawn  through  the  rolls,  which  enabled 
it  to  spin  better,  besides  keeping  the 
yarn  more  even.  I  don't  know  ihow  a 
catch  could  be  fixed  onto  a  self-opera- 
tor. We  had  four  of  them,  but  the 
boss  spinner  man  would  not  let  any  of 
the  fine  work  go  onto  them. 

Wool  filling  spun  lor  fancy  weaves 
should  be  tight  drawn  and  well  twist- 
ed and  spun  the  same  way  as  the 
warp. 

Wool  filling  spun  for  flannels  should 
be  soft  drawn  (not  too  soft),  and  spun 
contrary  to  the  warp.  The  goods  will 
handle  softer  and  at  the  same  time 
look  closer  weave.  NO.  8. 


AMBITION. 


I  have  seen  articles  written  on  the 
questions  of  production,  cost,  manag- 
ing help,  and  in  fact  a  great  many 
things  concerning  mills,  mill  life  and 
its  works,  but  I  remember  seeing  but 
few  articles  on  the  question  of  am- 
bition. Ambition  is  to  a  president, 
manager,  superintendent  or  overseer 
as  steam  is  to  an  engine,  but,  alas,  it 
is  so  often  the  case  that  managers 
know  so  little  of  what  they  are  trying 
to  do.  They  put  in  old,  out-of-date, 
worn  out  machinery.  The  overseer  is 
forced  to  speed  up  beyond  the  capacity 
of  such  machines  and  is  expected  to 
produce  products  of  equal  quality  and 
in  equal  quantities  as  the  mill  equip- 
ped with  the  very  best  and  latest  im- 
proved machinery.  He  is  also  ex- 
pected to  produce  it 

AT  THE  SAME  COST 

as  his  most  favored,  but  less  competent 
brother  in  an  up-to-date,  modern  mill. 
Will  his  troubles  stop  here?  No,  he  is 
discharged.  Man  after  man  is  tried, 
only  to  meet  with  the  same  or  similar 
troubles. 

The  manager  takes  orders  for  yarns, 
if  it  be  a  yarn  mill,  for  we  will  say 
number  40's,  when  he  is  making 
twelves  to  thirties  blends,  while  equip- 
ped only  for  tens  to  twenties  white. 
The  orders  are  for  one,  five  hundred 
and  a  thousand  pounds,  which  makes 
the  cost  of  changing  and  production 
far  more  than  the  mill  gets  for  the 
yarn,  not  speaking  of  the  raw  mate- 
rial. The  yarn  left  on  the  spools, 
tubes,  etc.,  is  thrown  around  from 
place  to  place  and  finally  thrown  in 
with  other  waste  from  which  the  mill 
gets  from  three  to  five  cents  a  pound. 
The  result  is  that  the  overseers  are 
changed  time  after  time,  the  help  be- 
comes  disorganized,   the    mill  loses 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


13 


money  and  is  soon  in  tlie  hand^j  ol!  a 
receiver. 

THE  REMEDY. 

Put  in  the  best  and  latest  improved 
machinery,  hire  competent  men  aa 
managers,  superintendents,  overseers, 
and  then  take  orders  for  only  largo 
quantities,  especially  where  the  differ- 
ence is  great  and  requires  a  complete 
change.  Watch  your  cost,  watch  your 
production,  know  what  your  profits  are 
and  if  one  of  the  overseers,  or  the  su- 
perintendent, proves  to  be  unworthy 
or  incompetent  let  him  go  and  fill  the 
position  with  a  good  man  who  under- 
stands the  business  NO.  9. 


FAST  COLORS. 


The  fastest  colors  on  the  market  to- 
day are  what  are  known  among 
dyers  as  "hydrbsulphite,"  colors  that 
are  dyed  in  a  caustic  bath  with 
hydrosulphite.  These  colors  are  as 
near  absolutely  fast  as  can  be  pro- 
duced, and  have  been  adopted  by  the 
United  States  government  to  be  used 
in  army  uniforms,  after  being  submit- 
ted to  very  severe  tests. 

The  dyeing  of  ithese  colors  on  cot- 
ton yarn  is  very  simple,  especially 
when  you  use  the  Scotch  tub  system 
of  dyeing  and  see  that  proper  care  is 
taken  to  have  everything  just  right — 
:.nat  is,  warps  thoroughly  wet  out,  dye 
))roperly  reduced  beforehand,  and  the 
neat  of  the  dye  liquor  carefully  attend- 
3d  to.  In  dyeing  hydrosulphite  colors 
on  raw  cotton,  results  depend  very 
largely  on  the  system  under  which  the 
cotton  is  dyed.  Of  course,  the  proper 
way  to  dye  those  colors  is  to  use  the 
vacuum  type  of  dye  machine,  as  the 
dyestuff  experts  say  that  all  air  ought 
to  be  gotten  out  of  the  cotton  before 
the  dyestuff  is  put  to  it,  and  this  type 
of  machine  is  best  suited  for  that  pur- 
pose, because  in  this  system  the  cotton 
is  stationary,  and  the  dye  liquor  is  fore- 


ed  through  the  cotton  by  means  of 
pumps. 

Now,  when  a  dye-house  is  rigged  up 
with  the  Klauder-Weldon  machine  sys- 
t>^rr;,  where  the  cotton  is  carried 
through  the  dye  liquor  and  comes  in 
contact  with  the  air  in  its  process  of 
dyeing, — these  conditions  require  a 
different  method  of  dyeing  hydrosul 
phite.   On  the 

VACUUM  TYPE  OP  MACHINE 

these  colors  are  dyed  something  like 
this.  The  cotton  is  thoroughly  wet  out 
at  180  degrees  Fahrenheit  for  20  min- 
utes, then  cooled  to  110  degrees,  and 
then  one-third  of  the  whole  amount  of 
hydrosulphite  that  is  to  be  used  is 
added  to  the  dye  bath  and  run  ten 
minutes.  The  color  solution  is  made 
up  in  barrels  at  110  degrees  with 
caustic  soda,  and  the  other  two-thirds 
of  the  hydrosulphite,  and  this  solu- 
tion is  then  added  slowly  to  the  batli, 
and  run  20  minutes  at  110  degrees  and 
washed  free  from  alkali.  The  above 
formula  will  give  beautiful  results  on 
a  vacuum,  type  of  machine,  but  when 
used  on  a  Klauder-Weldon  machine  the 
result  is  something  fierce.  The  writer 
was  up  against  it  in  not  having  the 
proper  vacuum  machine,  and  had  to 
do  his  dyeing  in  a  Klauder-Weldon 
machine,  and,  after  some  experiment- 
ing, he  obtained  very  good  results  by 
the  following  process:  Boil  the  cotton 
one-half  hour,  then  get  the  cotton 
thoroughly  cold  and  add  a  solution  of 
the  dye  and  the  caustic  soda;  run  in 
this  one-half  hour  and  get  the  cotton 
thoroughly  isaturated  with  the  dye, 
then  add  the  hydrosulphite  very  slow- 
ly and  raise  heat  to  120  degrees.  Be- 
fore the  hydrosulphite  s  added  the 
cotton  has  a  very  "sick"  look,  but  as 
the  hydrosulphite  is  added  the  color 
brightens  up  to  the  shade  required. 
On  the  Klauder-Weldon  machine,  when 
you  use  the  color  solution  and  the 
hydrosulphite  together,  the  cotton  is 
one-third  dyed  and  the  other  two- 
thirds  is  white,  but  when  you  use  the 
hydrosulphite  separately,  after  allow- 


14 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


ing  the  cotton  to  take  up  all  the  dye, 
you  get  just  as  good  results  as  on  a 
vacuum  machine,  and  the  colors  will 
stand  all  the  usual  tests. 

Tihe  above  may  be  of  some  use  to 
dyers  who  think  that  those  fast  hy- 
drosulphite  colors  cannot  be  dyed  on 
anything  but  a  vacuum  type  of  ma- 
chine, because  most  dyestuff  salesmen 
claim  it  can't  be  done,  but  I  say,  ''If 
at  first  you  don't  succeed,  why,  suck 
a  lemon,"  and  applying  the  above 
phrase  to  my  dyeing  experiment,  I 
would  say  that  I  expected  a  lemon  all 
right,  but  was  glad  to  receive  a  nice, 
juicy  peach,  that  is,  the  color  I  got 
was  a  peach. 

In  the  above  article  the  writer  does 
not  mention  any  particular  dyestuff, 
for  fear  some  one  might  isay  that  he 
was  a  dyestuff  salesman,  but  I  think 
the  above  formula  will  apply  to  most 
any  of  the  hydrosulphite  group. 

No.  10. 


BEAM  DYEING. 


The  art  of  dyeing  may  be  traced 
back  to  the  beginning  of  time,  even 
to  the  first  woman's  dress  that  we  have 
any  knowledge  of— ^the  traditional  fig- 
leaf  of  Eve  in  the  garden  of  Eden.  It 
is  true  than  man's  ingenuity  was  not 
called  in  to  color  that  dress,  but  divine 
nature,  whom  no  dyer  can  equal,  col- 
ored it  and  colored  it  well.  The  writer 
is  not  prepared  to  say  how  fast  the 
color  of  that  fig-leaf  was,  nor  what 
amount  of  twentieth  century  laundry 
washing  it  would  stand,  in  comparison 
to  these  latter  day  feminine  creations, 
but  this  he  knows — nature  colored  that 
fabric,  and  it  is  to  nature  even  nowa- 
days that  the  dyer  and  chemist  goes 
to  seek  his  coloring  matter,  for  it  is 
a  well-known  fact  that  most  dye- 
stuffs  find  their  origin  in  coal-tar,  and 
old  Mother  Earth  supplies  the  ingre- 
dients and  the  mind  of  man  devises 
schemes  and  concoctions,  which,  when 
put  into  effect,  almost  rival  nature  In 


their  brilliancy  and  beauty.  Coming 
on  down  through  the  ages  we  read  of 
the  Tyrian  king  who  sent  King  Sol- 
omon a  man  ''skilful  to  work  in  purple 
and  blue  and  fine  linen,  and  in  crim- 
son," and  we  also  learn  from  data 
on  the  subject  that  in  the  city  of 
Florence,  Italy,  in  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, there  were  over  200  dyeing  es- 
tablishm.ents.  (I  wonder  what  sort  of 
dyeing  equipment  they  had.)  And 
there  are  old  folks  living  even  now 
that  wil]  preach  to  you  the  beauties  of 
Walnut  bark,  sumac-berries,  dog- 
wood, and  all  those  other  old-fashioned 
colors,  which  they  used  to  dye  their 
jeans  with  before  the  war.  We  will 
not  argue  with  those  old  folks  on  the 
subject  of  the  fastness  and  staying 
qualities  of  their  colors,  but  we  must 
admit  that  the  cost  of  labor  compared 
to  the  quantity  produced  was  some- 
thing fierce. 

Now  it  is  not  fastness  of  color  that 
the  writer  wishes  to  harp  on,  it  is  the 

COST  OF  PRODUCTION 
that  I  want  to  speak  of  most  particu- 
larly in  this  article.  As  the  manu- 
facturer can  get  his  dyestuffs  at  al- 
most any  price  to  suit  his  taste,  he 
very  largely  depends  on  the  manipu- 
lation in  his  dye-lhouse  to  reduce  the 
cost.  During  these  last  twenty  years 
there  has  been  more  improvement  in 
dyeing  machinery  and  methods  than 
has  ever  been  known  in  the  world's 
history.  In  the  manufacture  of  cloth, 
competition  has  been  so  strong  that 
these  improvements  had  to  be  made  in 
order  to  reduce  cost  in  handling,  and 
manufacturers  are  ever  on  the  look- 
out for  the  latest  wrinkles.  Not  many 
years  ago  we  had  the  old-fashioned 
way  of  dyeing  everything  by  hand, 
raw  cotton  forked  in  and  out  of  a 
square  tub  by  hand,  yarn  dyed  in  the 
hank  by  hand,  and  all  this  was  done 
under  the  most  filthy  conditions  and 
at  enormous  labor  expense.  It  used  to 
be  that  the  cost  of  dyeing  depended 
on  the  capacity  of  the  man,  now  it  all 
depends  on  the  capacity  of  the  ma- 
chine.   Dyeing  methods  have  taken 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


15 


rapid  strides  in  the  way  of  improve- 
ment these  last  few  years,  and  all 
wiil  admit  there  was  great  room  for 
improvement.  Most  dye-houses  nowa- 
days are  as  clean  as  any  part  of  the 
mill,  having  well-drained  concrete 
floors,  suction  fans  to  carry  off  sur- 
plus steam,  and  everything  conducted 
in  a  well-ventilated  manner,  s-o  tlmt 
even  the  agent  of  the  mill  comes  down 
into  the  dye-house  once  in  a  while, 
which  he  very  seldom  did  under  the 
old  system,  for  fear  of  getting  his 
clothes  ruined,  or  being  run  over  by  a 
man  with  a  truck  in  the  dense  steam. 
Nowadays,  in  dyeing, 

THE  QUALITY 

depends  on  the  dyestuff  used,  and  the 
quantity  depends  on  the  machine,  and 
the  machine  that  produces  the  most  in 
a  given  time,  and  eliminates  cost  be- 


to  o  o  o  o  o  o  ooT^ 

lOQOOQOQQOJ 


fore  and  after  the  product  leaves  it- 
why,  that  is  the  machine  the  manu- 
facturer wants.  Now,  you  take  the 
maitter  of  dyeing  warps  in  a  cotton 
miJl.  The  yarn  is  usually  made  into 
chains  on  the  warper,  brought  into  the 
dye-house,  boiled,  doubled,  dyed,  split, 
and  dried  before  it  is  ready  for  the 
beaming  frame,  and  these  various 
processes  in  the  dye-house  cost  any- 
where from  25  cents  to  50  cents  per 
100  pounds  for  labor  alone;  then  it  has 
to  be  beamed  at  a  cost  of  about  60 
cents  per  100  before  it  is  ready  for 
the  slasher.  Now,  what  the  writer  is 
driving  at  in  this  article  is  to  elim- 
inate a  great  deal  of  the  above  cost, 
by  inventing  a  machine  which  I 
should  call  a  **beam  dyeing  machine." 
Oops  are  dyed  under  pressure,  yarn 
and  cotton  are  dyed  under  pressure, 
and  I  isee  no  reason  why  yarn  on  a 
beam  could  not  be  dyed  in  the  same 
way.    My  suggestion  is  this:  these 


beams  could  be  made  of  iron  or  brass 
just  the  size  and  shape  of  an  ordinary 
wooden  beam,  but  instead  of  being 
solid,  have  them  made  hollow,  and 
perforated,  and  also  open  at  each  end, 
so  the  liquor  could  penetrate  to  the 
centre  through  the  perforations. 

The  centre  shaft  (a)  could  be  re- 
moved while  the  beams  are  in  the 
dyeing  machine.  Run  the  white  yarn 
on  to  beams  like  the  above,  and  take 
those  beams  and  dye  them  just  so  in 
this  machine,  take  them  out  and  size 
them  on  the  slasher  and  dry  them  all 
in  one  operation.  This  would  save  lots 
of  dye-house  labor  and  do  away  with 
the  after  beaming  entirely.  A  mill 
on  denims,  ticks,  or  any  class  of  goods 
requiring  a  lot  of  solid  color  on  beams, 
would  find  this  process  of  great  advan- 
tage, and  I  think  it  could  be  worked 
successfully. 

The  above  may  be  a  "Defective  Sug- 
gestion," but  it  is  suggestions  you  are 
after,  and  it  stands  to  reason  if  you 
can  dye  so  many  other  masses  of  ma- 
terial in  solid  bulk,  why  not  beams, 
and  if  so,  you  can  very  readily  see 
what  a  great  amount  of  cost  and  labor 
it  would  eliminate.  No.  11. 



COTTON  CARDING  AND 
DRAWING. 


The  card  room  is  one  of  the  most, 
if  not  the  most  essential  room  in  the 
mill,  as  it  is  on  that  the  quantity 
of  work  done  depends.  The  overseer 
of  a  card  room  should  understand  his 
business  thoroughly,  as  he  knows  that 
the  production  of  the  whole  mill  de- 
pends to  a  great  extent  on  him.  It 
lies  in  his  power  to  make  either  good 
or  bad  yarn.  First,  he  should  have 
the  very  best  of  competent  help 
under  him.  I  find  that  it  is  a  mistaken 
idea  with  a  good  m.any  superintendents 
and  managers,  that  any  class  of  com- 
mon help  will  do  in  a  card  room.  It 
makes  no  difference  how  good  a  man 


16 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS 


A^!D  SUGGESTIONS. 


the  overseer  is,  if  he  has  poor  help  to 
contend  with,  he  cannot  turn  out  good 
work.  Some  claim  that  you  can  take 
green  help  and  train  them  up  to  what 
you  want.  This  theory  will  occasion- 
ally work,  where  you  do  not  have  more 
than  one  or  two  green  hands  to  train, 
but  when  it  comes  to  the  majority  of 
help  being  green,  then  I  claim  it  will 
cost  the  mill  more  in  the  long  run 
than  if  they  had  the  highest  paid  com- 
petent help. 

There  is  a  lot  that  can  be  said  re- 
garding cotton  carding.  I  could  no 
doubt  fill  a  large  sized  book,  if  I  car- 
ed to  go  into  all  the  details,  but  as  it  is 
only  my  idea  to  point  out  a  f e^  of  the 
worst  and  most  important  parts,  I 
shall  confine  myself  to  the  same. 

CARD  GRINDER  AND  HIS  DUTIES. 

The  card  grinder  should  at  all  times 
be  a  competent,  reliable  man,  as  the 
cards  depend  on  him  for  good,  smooth 
sliver.  He  can  either  put  a  card  in 
good  condition,  or  in  less  than  one 
minute's  time  he  can  put  the  card  out 
of  commission  so  that  it  will  cost  the 
company  more  money  for  repairing  the 
damage  he  has  done,  than  would  pay 
two  good  card  grinders  for  six  months. 
He  should  not  only  know  when  he  has 
the  cards  ground  properly,  but  should 
also  know  how  to  set  it  right  after 
he  is  through  grinding.  Every  one 
acquainted  with  cards  knows  how  eas- 
ily the  card  grinder  can  (as  we  term 
it)  hook  the  points,  therefore,  I  shall 
not  go  further  into  this  matter,  but 
proceed  to  the  drawing  frames. 

The  drawing  frames  are  just  as  im- 
portant in  a  card  room  as  the  cards. 
The  most  vital  thing  to  keep  right  is 
the  weights.  If  we  run  with  the  ma- 
chine out  of  fix,  so  It  will  not  stop 
when  one  strand  is  broken,  we  will 
make  light  yarn;  this  yarn  coming  to 
the  weave  room  in  warp  will  cause 
that  particular  thread  to  break  more 
than  those  of  the  right  weight,  as 
there  is  the  same  strain  on  each  warp 
thread,  providing  the  weave  is  the 
same,  and  naturally  the  light  thread, 


being  the  weaker,  will  break  the 
most.   This  same 

LIGHT  YARN, 

coming  to  the  weave  room  in  the  shape 
of  filling,  will  cause  shoddy  and  un- 
even cloth  on  a  plain  loom  where  one 
shuttle  is  used. 

The  yarn  being  finer  will  put  in 
more  picks  per  inch  and  cause  thick 
and  heavy  places,  making  the  cloth 
show  shoddy.  Of  course,  if  all  the  ends 
on  the  drawing  were  light  we  could 
very  easily  bring  them  back  to  weight 
on  the  next  machine,  which  Is  the 
slubber's,  or  we  could  even  let  the 
yarn  go  to  the  speeders,  and  then 
bring  the  weight  up;  but  where  one 
end  out  of  10  or  20  is  light,  there  is 
no  way  to  rectify  it,  unless  they  were 
laid  aside  until  there  was  enough  to 
fill  the  next  machine,  but  a  mill  on  dif- 
ferent sizes  of  yarn  or  colored  work, 
cannot  lay  the  yarn  back,  as  they  only 
make  yarn  as  they  need  it  and  cannot 
afford  to  wait. 

A  poor  overseer  will  overlook  these 
small  items,  but  a  good,  competent 
man,  I  claim,  is  one  of  the  best  and 
cheapest  investments  a  mill  can  make, 
no  matter  how  high  a  wage  is  paid. 

NO.  12. 



DYERS'  SHADE  MIXER. 


How  often  in  our  woolen  mills  does 
the  superintendent,  designer,  or  dyer 
want  to  see  just  how  some  lot  of  col- 
ored or  mixed  stock  will  appear  when 
carded!  How  hard,  too,  is  it  to  get  a 
spare  card  to  work  it  on!  Then  the 
card  won't  be  clean,  likely  enough,  and 
the  result  is  unsatisfactory  and  slow. 
Trying  the  job  on  a  "hard-card,"  bor- 
rowed from  the  card-room  is  too  feeble 
and  antedeluvian  to  be  worth  mention. 

Now,  what  has  hindered  manufactur- 
ers of  textile  machinery  from  getting 
up  tsome  little  contrivance  to  do  the 
job  conveniently,  thoroughly  and  with- 
out loss  of  time? 

Have  they  never  thought  of  such  a 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


1? 


thing?  Do  they  know  that  ''there's 
money  in  the  idea?"  The  necessary 
incentive  to  its  success  is  all  lying  la- 
tent in  the  thing.  See  how  many  will 
want  such  a  machine  if  it  can  be  fur- 
nished at  a  reasonable  figure? 
I  submit  a  few 

SUGGESTIONS 
for  such  a  machine. 

1.  It  must  be  cheap,  so  that  every 
mill  may  order  one,  and  the  larger 
mills  more  than  one. 

2.  It  must  be  compact;  say  with  a 
short  feed  apron,  a  very  few  metallic 
or  coarse  wire  covered  rolls,  then  a 
simple  doffer  comb;  the  whole  thing 
perhaps  about  one  foot  by  two  feet 
over  all,  even  less. 

3.  Make  it  to  run  by  either  hand  or 
power. 

4.  Must  be  easy  to  clean  for  suc- 
ceeding lots.  Could  it  be  made  self- 
cleaning? 

5.  Must  be  able  to  make  a  fair  mix 
by  two  passages  of  the  stock  through 
it,  at  most. 

T).  Capacity,  one  to  four  ounces 
clean  stock.  Woolen  stock  to  be  run 
moist  or  dry;  co'tton,  dry.  About  half 
an  ounce  of  stock  will  be  more  often 
wanted  mixed,  therefore  the  appliance 
may  be  of  smaller  size,  or  there  may 
be  two  sizes  built.  NO.  13. 


MAKING  ROVING. 


I  would  suggest  what  I  consider 
would  be  a  great  improvement  in  the 
making  of  roving  in  the  carding  room 
of  a  cotton  mill.  I  find  in  a  good 
many  mills  in  Fall  River  that  the  ob- 
ject is  to  put  as  much  length  on  the 
bobbin  as  they  possibly  can,  and  doing 
so  is  often  detrimental  to  the  sliver 
on  the  bobbin. 

Now  when  you  take  hold  of  a  rov- 
ing of  16,  18,  or  20  hanks  and 
press  on  it  with  your  thumb  and  find 
that  you  cannot  make  any  impression 
on  it,  it  being  as  hard  almost  as  a 


rock,  you  may  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  to  attain  that  end  the  sliver  most 
certainly  has  been  strained.  Conse- 
quently, when  it  comes  to  run  in  the 
spinning  machines,  especially  fhe 
mule,  with  its  long  pull  from  the  creel, 
and  the  stopping  and  starting  of  the 
rollers  every  stretch,  we  find  we  have 
a  great  amount  of  rovings  breaking 
back,  and  a  good  many  of  them  are 
pulled  in  the  roving  so  hard  that  you 
can  scarcely  find  the  end  of  the  sliver 
to  repiece  it  again.  I  notice  in  the 
roving  frame,  that  the  sliver,  in  most 
frames,  from  the  nip  of  rollers  to  the 
spindle  point,  runs  very  taut,  describ- 
ing a  straight  line,  instead  of  there 
being  a  little  sag  from  the  two  points, 
and  again  a  roving  of  this  description, 
which  as  been  stretched  in  its  making, 
will  be  sure  to  make  uneven  yarn  and 
filling  and  also  weak  yarn.  When  you 
get  this  class  of  roving  in  the  spin- 
ning machines  (rings  and  mules),  and 
you  are  required  to  spin  numbers  giv- 
ing a  draft  of  from  12l^  to  13i/^  inches 
In  the  rollers,  you  cannot  possibly  ex- 
pect a  good  sound  thread. 

With  reference  to  the  draft  in  the 
rollers,  I  would  like  to  isay  right  here 
what  I  always  contend,  and  it  is  this: 
that  ten  cd  a  draft  ought  to  be  the  limit 
on  any  machine  and  on  any  stock,  and 
on  some  stocks  say  1  inch,  1  1-16  inch, 
and  IVs,  eight  of  a  draft  ought  o  be 
the  limit,  and  a  mill  that  has  the 
preparation  in  the  carding  room  to 
follow  this  process  will  lose  nothing, 
but  rather  be  the  gainer  thereby. 

NO.  14. 

 ♦-M'^  

SAVING  THE  DYEROOM 
STEAM. 


The  old  proverb  that  **A  penny  saved 
is  a  penny  gained,"  finds  ever  increas- 
ing respect  in  the  business  world. 
Economy  in  production  is  a  highly  im- 
portant factor;  and  is  usually  well 
looked  after  by  our  textile  mill  men; 


18 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


but  it  is  our  purpose  to  show  if  possi- 
ble that  the  dyeing  department  has 
scarcely  as  yet  been  seriously  invaded 
by  it.  Dyeroom  men  of  every  class 
will  readily  bear  me  out  in  this  state- 
ment. Aside  from  the  marvellous  ad- 
vances through  chemical  research,  the 
attention  given  to  improvements  in 
their  daily  employment  is  most  inade- 
quate. But  few  dyeroom  owners  have 
begun  to  realize  the  importance  of 
their  outfit;  and  how  susceptible  it  is 
to  intelligent  reforms. 

It  is  not,  however,  the  call  of  this 
general  theme  which  now  impresses 
me,  but  simply  the  consideration  of 
one  big,  wide-open  leak  in  dyehouses 
all  the  world  over.  Not  many  words 
are  needed.  The  waste  I  refer  to  is 
along  the  line  of  steam.  All  dyerooms 
use  it;  and  some  in  large  quantities. 
In  every  dyeroom  it  is  the  heaviest 
item  of  expense,  frequently  exceed- 
ing the  cost  of  drugs  and  dyes,  or  the 
cost  of  labor.  Not  a  little  is  often 
wasted  through  sheer  heedlessness; 
and  more  because  of  accidents  of  one 
kind  or  another.  But  aside  from  mis- 
use or  accident,  not  any  part  of  the 
entire  supply  of  steam  entering  the 
dyeroom  daily  finds  its 

PUDL  EFFICIENCY 

expended.  When  we  are  through 
with  a  large  kettleful  of  boiling  water 
five  to  fifty  times  a  day  successively, 
what  is  done  with  it?  It  has  cost  in 
the  aggregate  a  vast  amount  of  money 
to  bring  up  from  a  cold,  an4  in  our 
northern  winters  an  all  but  freezing 
condition.  What  suitable  disposition 
then  do  we  finally  make  of  it?  Why, 
we  run  it  down  the  river  to  raise  the 
national  temperature,  to  dirty  the 
people's  stream,  and  to  kill  off  the 
people's  fish.  Civic  corporations  ob- 
ject occasionally  to  this  gratuitous 
beneficence;  but  with  little  avail;  and 
it  usually  continues  until  the  law  in- 
terposes with  its  peculiar  powers  of 
persuasion.    Long  before  it  reaches,  if 


ever,  this  climax,  our  own  self  interest 
should  have  sought  to  put  a  period  to 
a  practice  that  is  confessedly  short- 
sighted and  wastful.  Seeing  that 
these  baths  all  cost  a  lot  to  put  heat 
into,  so  to  speak,  why  shouldn't  we 
make  some  supreme  effort  individually 
or  collectively  to  get  the  caloric  back 
before  we  throw  them  away?  There 
rests  my  point  of  interrogation.  And 
so  with  scouring  baths  in  a  lesser  de- 
gree, and  with  the  heat  passing  out 
from  drjdng  machines  for  loose  stock, 
and  yarns,  and  fabrics.  Why  can't  we 
make  some  heroic  concerted  endeavor 
after  retaining  so  much  of  great  value, 
and  of  which  we  require  every  work- 
ing day  a  further  quantity? 

You  may  easily  return  to  me  my 
query  for  some  practical  reply.  I  know 
that  the  subject  is  a  difficult  one;  but 
then  we've  reached  the  North  Pole 
now,  you  know.  There's  a  mint  of 
money  in  this  too.  Now  I  am  not  an 
engineer,  nor  well  up  in  physics  and 
electricity,  and  the  North  Pole.  I  am 
only  a  dyer.  Nevertheless,  if  it  be  but 
to  furnish  you  something  to  think 
over;  and  even  if  you  severely  criti- 
cize, I  am  willing  to  put 

A  FEW  SUGGESTIONS 

before  the  meeting. 

First,  as  to  heat  within  moist 
or  almost  dry  air,  in  connection  with 
the  operations  of  drying  raw  stock, 
yarns  and  piece  goods,  I  can  state 
from  actual  personal  experience  that 
a  considerable  portion  can  be  used 
over  again  in  these  processes  them- 
selves; and  some  of  it  may  be  profit- 
ably employed  to  assist  in  freeing  the 
dyeroom  of  steam.  Possibly  yet  anoth- 
er portion  of  it,  the  cleanest  and  dri- 
est, might  be  used  to  help  warm  the 
mill  work  rooms  in  winter;  and  some 
not  so  choice  to  ventilate,  and  keep 
dry  outbuildings,  damp  basements,  and 
spaces  under  first^story  floors.  The 
country  is  full  of  rotary  fans;  and  tex- 
tile plants  would  ifind  it  to  their  certain 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


19 


advantage  to  install  more  of  them. 
Their  usefulness  is  unlimited.  In 
many  mills  are  decatizing  apparatus; 
and  from  these  much  steam  goes 
off  to  waste  like  the  exhaust  from  the 
steam  engine  that  in  plenty  of  places 
still  is  thrown  recklessly  off  into  the 
outside  world. 

Then  there's  the  heat  contained  in 
washing  and  dyeing  baths.  That,  of 
course,  is  a  larger  and 

HARDER  PROBLEM. 

One  thing  to  bear  in  mind  at  the  out- 
side is  that  the  use  of  machinery  and 
standing  baths  is  scarcely  to  be  reck- 
oned with  in  dealing  with  the  question. 
In  some  circumstances,  and  upon  some 
classes  of  work,  the  savings  are  obvi- 
ous; but  in  dyeroom  work  of  a  gen- 
eral sort,  the  gain  is  barely  appreci- 
able. Considerable  is  saved  by  em- 
ploying the  single  bath  system  of  dye- 
ing wherever  possible.  The  best  types 
of  our  more  recently  built  wool  scour- 
ing machines  also  effect  manifest 
economy.  Many  dye-baths  might  be 
used  over  several  times,  if  only  means 
were  provided  for  pumping  a  chrome 
or  logwood  bath  into  an  adjoining  ket- 
tle for  successive  batches.  The  reflec- 
tions of  years,  however,  prompt  me  to 
another  line  of  thought.  My  idea  has 
been  to  abstract  the  heat  from  these 
used  ba'ths  within  storage  tanks;  and 
to  utilize  it  anew  in  heating  boiler 
feed  water,  and  such  clean  fresh  water 
as  is  called  for  in  regular  dyeroom 
routine,  so  as  to  do  away  entirely  with 
any  necessity  for  using  cold  water  in 
either  case.  This  would  relieve  the 
boilers  immensely,  it  seems  to  me; 
and  cut  down  the  coal  bill  in  a  way 
that  would  make  the  whole  plant 
smile.  I  have  at  least  indicated  the 
big  leak,  I  believe.  There  may  be  a 
more  simple  solution  than  I  now  sug- 
gest; but  is  not  the  matter  itself  of 
sufficient  hard  cash  importance  to  take 
hold  of  at  once?  And  donU  you  think 
that  **the  cake"  naturally  falls  in  con- 
sequence? No.  15. 


OLD  COTTON  MACHINERY. 


There  are  a  number  of  mills  running 
old  machinery  at  the  present  time,  and 
to  all  appearances  they  will  continue 
to  do  so  for  some  time  to  come.  It  is 
the  general  rule  to  hear  some  of  the 
overseers  grumble  about  their  old  ma- 
chines, and  find  fault  with  their  super- 
intendent, or  the  manager,  and  some 
others  think  the  mill  owners  are  to 
blame  if  they  are  called  upon  to  do  a 
little  better  with  the  old  machines.  Of 
course,  we  must  admit  that  they  can- 
not be  made  to  produce  what  new  ma- 
chines would,  but  in  some  cases  they 
can  be  made  to  do  pretty  nearly  as 
well,  and  the  managers,  superintend- 
ents or  owners  are  aware  of  these 
facts.  Therefore,  it  is  left  for  the 
overseer  to  get  there.  When  he  lets 
himself  to  run  old  machines,  he 
must  expect  trouble,  unless  he  can 
make  them  go  to  suit  those  for  whom 
he  is  working.  Although  a  new  mill 
equipped  with  new  machinery  is  pref- 
erable to  an  old  one  with  old  machin- 
ery, the  fact  still  remains  that  the  old 
mill  must  run  just  the  same,  and  suc- 
cess will  depend  very  much  upon  the 
team  of  overseers  in  the  mill. 

THE  REMEDY. 
I  would  suggest  that  each  overseer 
first  look  himself  over  carefully  before 
finding  fault  with  someone  else.  His 
maciiines  may  not  be  operating  proper- 
ly, for  want  of  repair,  or  poor  repairing. 
He  should  not  allow  any  of  those  good- 
enough-for-that-old-machine  jobs  to  be 
done  for  him  at  the  repair  shop,  for 
such  work  does  not  last,  and  besides 
causes  other  breaks,  and  thus  loss  of 
production.  He  should  not  use  patch- 
ed parts,  because  they  are  old  ma- 
chines; it  costs  more  to  patch  a  piece 
than  to  put  a  new  one  on.  If  after  hav- 
ing looked  his  machines  all  over,  and 
he  finds  them  all  right,  but  the  work 
not  running  well,  he  should  not  say 


20 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


"That  old  machine,"  but  should  look 
for  the  cause.  If  he  fails  to  locate  it 
in  his  own  room,  he  should  consult  his 
brother  overseers,  and  1  think  between 
them  they  will  locate  the  trouble,  and 
remedy,  both  for  that  and  other  trou- 
bles that  would  arise  in  the  old  mil', 
and  thus  carry  it  along  to  success,  and 
perhaps  new  machinery  at  some  future 
time.  The  secret  of  success  with  old 
machines  is  courage  and  grit. 

NO.  16. 

IMPROVEMENT  IN  MILLS. 


There  are  several  ways  which  could 
be  adopted  that  would  be  an  improve- 
ment over  the  conditions  of  to-day, 
both  for  the  workman  and  tne  manu- 
facturer. It  has  been  my  experience 
to  meet  help  of  alm^ost  all  kinds,  and 
I  must  say  that  nine-tenths  of  the  help 
of  to-day  are  very  poor;  they  are  care- 
less, thoughtless  and  selfish.  Their 
main  thought  is  night  and  pay  day. 
I  have  seen  help  walk  over  bobbins, 
etc.,  and  step  on,  and  break  them,  and 
not  even  stoop  to  pick  them  up,  and 
when  asked  why  they  did  not  pick 
them  up,  they  would  inform  you  quick- 
ly, "That's  not  my  job."  Now  that's 
only  a  small  matter,  but  even  bobbins 
cost  money. 

Occasionally,  you  will  meet  with  a 
person 

WHO  IS  NOT  AFRAID 
to  put  things  right  if  he  sees  anything 
a  little  out  of  place,  while  he  happens 
to  be  passing.  Then  he  often  hears 
the  remark,  "See  the  sucker;"  some 
overseers  even  will  tell  him  to  mind 
his  own  business.  Now,  if  this  idea  of 
things  should  suddenly  die  out,  and 
everyone  working  in  the  mill  should 
resolve,  when  going  into  work  each 
day,  that  he  would  do  a  good  day's 
work,  and  do  it  better  than  yesterday's, 
,  the  majority  of  superintendents  and 
mill  owners  would  hardly  know  what 
had  happened.      They  would  appre- 


ciate it,  and  be  equally  surprised,  foi 
they  have  troubles  enough  of  a  charac- 
ter little  known  to  the  average  mill 
hand,  without  being  worried  by  the 
carelessness  of  their  help,  and  baa 
work,  which,  apparently  the  best  and 
latest  improved  machinery  does  not 
eliminate.  There  are  troubles  with 
the  cloth  buyers,  who  keep  men  to  find 
fault  with  the  cloth,  men  who,  if  they 
do  not  save  their  wages  in  claims,  are 
apt  to  lose  their  jobs,  as  incompetent. 
These  middle  men  or  jobbers  are  a 
nightmare  of  the  manuiauiurer. 

A  MANUFACTURER 
keeps  a  designer  who  works  hard, 
trying  to  find  something  which  will 
be  attractive  and  sell;  when  it  gets  to 
the  buyer,  he  merely  looks  at  it  and 
casts  it  aside,  with,  "That's  no  good, 
that  will  never  sell,"  or  it  may  be  tak- 
en, and  the  firm  gets  an  order.  When 
the  buyer  receives  a  piece  of  the 
cloth,  he  cuts  a  few  samples  from  it, 
and  mails  them  to  several  manufac- 
turers, asking  what  they  will  make 
that  for.  He  will  likely  receive  fig- 
ures which  may  be  from  i/4  to  1  cent 
a  yard  lower  than  the  price  of  the 
original  maker.  Then  he  gets  in  his 
work.  He  commences  to  worry  the 
first  manufacturer,  telling  him  if  he 
does  not  receive  a  certain  amount  of 
cloth  in  a  given  time,  his  order  does 
not  amount  to  so  much  as  the  paper  it 
is  written  on.  That  is  what  the  manu- 
facturer has  been  in  dread  of,  can- 
cellation. Now  he  must  figure  how  it 
can  be  done,  and  decides  on  overtime 
or  night  work.  Then  arises  another 
trouble,  the  help.  They  either  don't 
care  to  work  overtime,  or  a  few  "agi- 
tators" get  together  and  talk  strike 
for  more  wages.  The  consequence  is 
a  strike,  which  means  delay  and  great 
loss.  The  manufacturer  can't  afford 
to  pay  more  wages,  for  he  has  been 
ground  down  to  where  he  can  only 
make  from  2  to  4  cents  per  yard  profit 
on  his  goods,  but  of  course  the  help 
don't  know  this;  they  really  believe 
that  the  firm  is  making  lots  of  money. 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


21 


Then,  instead  of  forming  a  good  sane 
committee  to  tall^  over  the  matter 
with  the  manufacturer,  they  elect  a 
few  men,  who 

FIRST  GET  DRUNK, 
then  make  an  unreasonable  demand, 
which  could  not  be  met  under  any 
circumstances,  which,  of  course,  is 
refused.  Then  in  their  state  of  mind 
they  misrepresent  the  manufacturer 
to  the  people,  which  causes  more  de- 
lay and  bitt^^r  feeling,  and,  consequent- 
ly, cancellatioii. 

Now  the  manufacturers  must  do 
their  share  towards  making  conditions. 
They  must  try  and  make  their  help 
feel  that  they  are  part  of  the  business; 
(it  will  be  hard,  I  admit)  they  must 
encourage  their  help  with  little  words 
of  good  advice,  and  make  them  feel 
that  they  are  looking  after  their  wel- 
fare. Take  two  superintendents:  one, 
when  he  meets  his  help,  has  a  pleas- 
ant face  and  a  pleasant  word  as  h^j 
goes  through  the  mill,  and  when  a  mis- 
take has  been  made,  he  looks  at  tlie 
matter  calmly,  and  encourages  and 
shows  the  persons  who  have  made  the 
mistake  how  to  avoid  a  second  occur- 
rence, and  in  many  ways,  shows  that 
he  is  a  human  being.  That  man  will 
get  very  good  results,  and  the  mill 
owner  who  has  such  a  superintendent 
will  be  successful.  The  other  looks  as 
though  he 

HATED  HIMSELF, 
as  he  goes  on  his  rounds,  and  snarls 
and  snaps  at  everyone  he  meets,  and 
acts  as  though  he  were  the  only  one 
in  that  vicinity  who  had  a  right  to  live. 
Follow  that  man  through  the  mill,  and 
you  will  find  men  who  will  cheat  him 
at  every  chance.  In  the  wool  room 
you  will  find  wool  not  properly  sorted; 
picker  work  carelessly  done;  card 
room  the  same;  spinning  room  making 
from  20  to  30  per  cent  more  waste  than 
it  should,  besides  making  bad  work 
for  the  weave  and  dressing  rooms, 
which  all  practical  men  know  means 
loss  of  production;  consequently  less 


profits  for  the  firm.  Nine  out  of  every 
ten  superintendents  of  this  kind  are 
men  who  never  had  to  earn  their  liv- 
ing in  any  part  of  the  mill,  and  sup- 
port a  family  on  what  they  earned.  I 
have  spent  20  years  as 

A  WORKING  MAN, 
and  have  seen  a  good  many  conditions, 
and  have  worked  in  every  department 
of  a  woolen  mill,  in  this  and  other 
countries,  both  as  a  mill  man,  and 
while  erecting  woolen  machinery, 
which  gave  me  lots  of  opportunities  to 
see  things  as  they  were.  I  am  willing 
to  concede  the  manufacturer  all  that  is 
due  him,  and  if  all  help  would  do  their 
duty,  the  manufacturers  would  do  all 
they  could  for  their  help;  of  this  I  feel 
reasonably  sure.  NO.  17. 


DEFECTS  IN  A  MILL. 


I  notice  that  the  subject  of  one  of 
the  articles  written  under  defects  and 
suggestions  i&  ambition.  Now,  a  man 
may  be  full  of  ambition,  and  still  not 
be  able  to  manage  a  mill,  (I  mean  a 
woolen  mill.)  Ais  a  rule,  managers 
and  superintendents  are  designers 
and  some  of  them  know  no  more  about 
managing  a  mill  than  a  man  from 
the  picking  room  (not  as  much).  To 
be  a  manager  or  superintendent  a 
man  should  have  a  practical  knowledge 
of  every  department  in  the  mill,  and 
know  when  he  has  overseers  that 
know  their  business.  Take  the  card 
room,  for  example.  How  many  man- 
agers are  using  cheap  wool  oil  od 
their  stock,  and  thinking  they  are  sav- 
ing money? 

I  claim  they  are  losing  money,  and 
lots  of  it.  They  don't  get  the  strength 
in  their  yarn,  it  don't  spin  as  well,  or 
weave  as  well,  therefore  It  comes  back 
in  waste. 

Then,  again,  look  at  the  cards  in 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


some  of  the  mills  that  are  called  good 
mills,  you  will  see  some  of  the  first 
breakers  running  with  two  or  three 
workers,  with  half  of  the  wire  broken 
out,  and  half  a  dozen  sheets  on  th3 
cylinder  with  no  wire  in  them;  the 
second  breaker  the  same,  and  some- 
times the  finisher  as  well.  How  can 
you  get  quality  or  quantity  with  con- 
ditions like  that?  Sometimes  it  is  the 
carder's  fault,  but  if  the  carder  can't 
get  supplies  to  keep  these  things  In 
shape,  then  I  say  it  is  the  manager's 
fault.  I  could  keep  on  writing  for  a 
day  on  just  such  things  as  that,  for  it 
will  be  the  same  all  through  the  mill. 

No.  18. 

—  

COTTON  CARDING. 


There  are  a  great  many  changes  nec- 
essary in  the  carding  room  of  a  cotton 
mill,  in  order  to  attain  the  strong- 
est of  yarn,  and  to  eliminate  to  a  large 
degree,  the  unnecessary  amount  of 
waste  done  in  every  department  in  the 
mill.  I  know  of  a  mill  that  has  lately 
discarded  its  intermediate  breaker, 
which,  in  the  opinion  of  the  writer,  is 
one  of  the  best  moves  that  could  be 
made  in  any  cotton  mill.  This  mill 
makes  carded  yarns  as  fine  as  80s  out 
of  li^-inch  stock,  and  the  quality  of 
roving  and  yarn  is  excellent.  But  it 
must  be  understood  that  more  care 
and  attention  must  be  given  to  the  fill- 
ing of  the  automatic  feed  boxes,  and  to 
closing  the  grid  bars  for  dirty  cotton, 
and  to  opening  them  when  using  clean 
cotton  to  attain  an  even  lap  in  this  sys- 
tem of  picking. 

Sometimes  when  the  grid  bars  are  set 
closer  together,  a  space  is  left  between 
the  feed  roll,  and  the  first  bar;  in  this 
case  an  extra  bar  should  be  placed  in 
this  space,  in  order  to  receive  any  ben- 


efit from  the  closing;  ui  me  Dars.  Un- 
der this  system  constant  watchfulness 
must  be  given  to  the  cone  belts,  to  see 
that  the  belt  is  not  too  light,  in  order 
that  the  belt  shipper  be  allowed  to 
move  quickly,  but  to  have  the  cone  belt 
tight  enough  so  that  no  slipping  of  the 
driving  cone  will  occur. 

THE  BREAKER  BEATER 

should  be  of  the  ordinary  blade 
type,  and  kept  well  sharpened,  (but 
not  to  a  knife  edge)  to  open  the  cotton 
properly.  The  finisher  lapper  beater 
should  be  of  the  carding  type  to 
clean  the  cotton  and  straighten  out  the 
fibres,  thus  presenting  to  the  card,  fi- 
bres in  a  more  parallel  order.  In 
the  preceding  system  every  working 
flat  will  do  the  same  amount  of  comb- 
ing, and  not  depend  upon  the  first  flats 
to  disentangle  the  fibres,  as  done  In 
most  mills,  but  to  have  every  fiat  do 
the  same  amount  of  work;  that  is,  to 
have  every  flat  remove  the  smaller  and 
lighter  impurities  (impurities  of  too 
light  nature  to  be  removed  by  the  ac- 
tion of  the  beaters),  and  do  the  same 
amount  of  combing.  It  will  be  found 
in  this  system  that  the  fibres  have  re- 
tained their  nature,  owing  to  less  beat- 
ing, for  we  do  beat  the  cotton  too 
much. 

On  the  card,  set  the  licker-in  to  the 
cylinder  with  a  12-1,000  gauge;  some 
set  as  close  as  8-1,000,  but  this  is 
wrong,  because  no  combing  takes  place 
at  this  point,  and  by  setting  away  the 
danger  of  injuring  the  wire  and  the 
cylinder,  and  puncturing  the  screen 
when  a  lap  is  allowed  to  run  out,  is  not 
as  great. 

For  a  print  cloth  mill,  the  card 
sliver  should  not  exceed  50  grains  per 
yard;  the  finished  drawing,  60  grains 
per  yard;  slubber  roving,  60  hank;  in- 
termediate roving,  1.65  hank;  fine  rov- 
ing, 4.5  hank. 

If  the  above  system  is  given  a  trial, 
it  will  be  found  that  less  waste  will  be 
made,  and  a  more  compact  bobbin  of 
roving,  and  stronger  yarn.     No.  19. 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


23 


WEAVING  TERRY  TOWELS. 


The  standard  terry  weave  requires 
four  harnesses  and  is  drawn  in  1-8-2-4. 
The  harnesses  are  raised  in  the  fol- 
lowing order:  First  pick,  first  and  third 
and  reed  is  held  stationary;  second 
pick,  second  and  third  are  raised,  and 
reed  is  pulled  back;  third  pick,  first 
and  fourth  harnesses  are  raised,  and 
reed  is  again  pulled  back. 

The  selvage  threads  are  drawn  in 
the  third  and  fourth  harnesses,  ex- 
cepting three  threads  on  each  side  of 
the  warp,  which  are  drawn  in  the  sec- 
ond harness,  all  three  in  the  same 
eye.  This  produces  a  kind  of  tape  sel- 
vage, and  hence,  prevents  the  selvage 
from  getting  too  tight. 

It  is  very  important  to  have  the  har- 
nesses properly  set  in  any  kind  of 
weaving,  but  it  is  especially  so  in  this 
class  of  goods,  on  account  of  the  two 
warps  having  such  a  great  difference 
in  tension.  It  is  found  ad'\4sable  to 
give  the  second  harness  about  one 
inch  more  lift  than  is  given  to  the  oth- 
er three  to  prevent  these  slack  ends 
from  sagging  down  into  the  shed.  The 
bottom  warp  is  run  very  tight,  while 
the  top  one  has  very  little  friction  on 
the  let-off^  except  in  weaving  fancy 
borders,  which  have  a  portion  woven 
plain,  without  any  loops.  Then  the 
friction  is  automatically  increased  at 
this  time.   In  order  to  obtain 

THE  BEST  RESULTS 
we  give  the  top  warp  only  about  one- 
half  of  a  full  size,  but  give  the  bottom 
one  a  fairly  heavy  size.  This  light 
sizing  of  the  pile  warp  enables  us  to 
get  an  even,  soft  and  regular  loop. 

I  wish  to  emphasize  the  importance 
of  having  a  dry  atmosphere  in  all  terry 
weave  rooms.  When  there  is  any  ex- 
cessive humidity,  the  top  warp  rolls 
up  with  the  bottom  one  back  of  the 
lease  rods,  and  gives  no  end  of  trouble, 
r  would  recommend  a  humidity  of 
about  60  per  cent  for  terry  work. 

The  lease  rods  are  put  in  quite  dif- 


ferently from  the  ordinary  method  of 
leasing  a  four-harness  warp.  The 
back  one  is  simply  to  separate  the  two 
warps.  The  front  one  is  inserted  with 
second  and  third  harnesses  up  and  first 
and  fourth  down.  This  work  runs  best 
without  any  temples  at  all,  as  the  loops 
will  continually  give  trouble  when  they 
are  used.  It  is  advisable  to  have  an 
arrangement  for  lifting  the  take-up 
panel  out  of  contact  with  its  gear  for 
the  first  two  picks  after  a  plain  stripe 
has  been  woven,  and  the  pile  started 
again,  or  else  thin  places  will  occur  at 
this  point. 

In  light  pick  goods  of  this  sort  it  is 
very  necessary  to  have  an  even  and 
regular  let-off  motion.  When  using  a 
friction  let-off,  be  careful  to  keep  rope 
or  chain  wiped  off  and  free  from  grease 
or  any  other  foreign  matter.  I  find 
that  No.  14s  warp  and  No.  14s  filling, 
using  a  No.  12s  reed,  four  threads  per 
dent  gives  best  results.         No.  20. 

COTTON  SPINNING. 


We  have  different  defects  come  up 
before  us  from  time  to  time  for  dis- 
cussion, but  I  have  never  heard  of  nor 
seen  any  discussion  of  the  subject  of 
running  belts  through  the  floor  from 
one  room  to  another.  There  are  two 
sides  of  the  question  to  look  at,  from 
my  point  of  view.  We  will  assume  I 
was  going  to  build  a  mill  for  ring  and 
mule  spinning,  and  use  steam  or  water 
power.  The  engineer,  or  architect 
would  draw  plans  for  driving  two 
rooms  with  one  line  of  shafting,  and 
drive  the  frames  upstairs,  and  the 
mules  in  the  same  room  as  the  shaft- 
ing. What  would  be  the  result?  In 
the  first  place,  it  saves  a  lot  of  belt- 
ing and  shafting,  also  it  saves  a  little 
oil.  But  does  it  save  power?  I  don't 
think  it  does,  for  on  account  of  running 
short  belts  through  the  floor  to  the 
spinning  frames,  you  have  a  harder 
drive,  as  you  have  to  keep  your  belts 


24 


TEXTILE   DEFECtS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


tight.  And  in  the  second  piace,  your 
two  rooms  are  not  as  safe  in  regard  to 
tires  and  water  where  there  are  a  iot 
of  belt  holes.  Also  we  will  assume, 
you  are  very  particular  about  a  certain 
kind  of  filling  on  your  mules,  and  when 
the  mule  spinner  is  having  his  atten- 
tion drawn  to  some  other  thing,  the 
ring  spinner  up  in  the  room  above  may 
be  cleaning  or  sweeping,  and  down 
comes  a  lot  of  waste  right  on  the  yarn 
that  is  being  spun.  It  runs  in  on  the 
filling,  and  gets  in  the  cloth,  and  no- 
body knows  where  it  comes  from,  be- 
cause he  didn't  see  it.  And  another 
thing,  supposing  you  have  a  fire  in 
your  spinning  room,  and  you  use  quite 
a  lot  of  water, 

WHAT  IS  THE  RESULT? 
You  get  part  of  it  down  in  the  room 
below,  and  probably  get  the  rolls  all 
wet,  and  the  leather  stripping  off,  be- 
sides spoiling  the  yarn,  all  on  account 
of  belt  holes  through  the  floor.  It  is 
true  there  is  little  improvement  with 
the  belt  guards,  but  they  can't  stop 
everything.  The  other  side  of  the 
question  is,  should  we  get  better  re- 
sults from  driving  each  room  seperate- 
ly?  Well,  in  my  opinion,  we  would. 
In  the  first  place  each  room  would 
have  just  its  own  waste  and  sweepings 
from  the  floor.  They  would  not  get 
half  of  it  down  below  from  the  room 
above,  and  what  would  be  the  result? 
Why,  cleaner  rooms,  cleaner  floors, 
cleaner  machines,  and  last,  and  best 
of  all,  cleaner  and  better  work.  In  the 
second  place,  you  could  regulate  your 
humidity  in  each  room  to  meet  the  re- 
quirements of  the  class  of  work  you 
are  running.  Whereas,  if  you  have  a 
lot  of  belt  holes  through  the  floor,  you 
are  going  to  get  humidity  from  the 
room  above,  as  the  pulleys  up  above 
draw  it  down  from  the  room  above, 
and  then  you  wonder  why  the  work 
runs  better  in  one  room  than  another. 
In  my  opinion  there  is  little  to  say  in 
regard  to  the  advantage  of  running  one 
shaft  for  two  rooms,  as  I  don't  see 
much    advantage    myself.  Perhaps 


some  other  readers  of  your  paper  could 
enlighten  us  more  on  the  subject,  as 
I  am  only  one  of  the  many  readers,  and 
that  is  my  idea.  And  in  my  conclu- 
sion, I  must  say  that  I  think  better 
results  could  be  obtained  all  around, 
both  in  good,  clean,  work,  and  clean 
help,  besides  being  healthier  for  the 
operatives,  and  I  might  say  it  woula 
be  a  good  deal  better  for  the  under- 
writers in  regard  to  insurance  rates, 
etc.,  as  I  think  mills  would  be  safer 
from  fires,  if  each  had  the  driving  In 
their  own  room.  No.  21. 

"STICK-TO-ITIVENESS." 


In  looking  through  the  "Defects  and 
Suggestions"  department  of  your  pa- 
per, the  writer's  attention  was  called 
to  an  article  headed  "Ambition,"  and 
in  a  spirit  of  friendly  rivalry,  'I  would 
like  to  say  to  the  author  of  that  ar- 
ticle that  ambition  is  all  right  as  far 
as  it  goes,  but  it  does  not  go  far 
enough,  and  in  the  following  article  I 
will  try  and  explain  what  I  mean. 

It  is  true  that  ambition  and  "stick- 
to-itiveness"  do  not  enter  directly  into 
the  manufacture  of  cloth,  but  if  the 
reader  will  stop  and  think  a  little,  he 
will  be  convinced  that  those  two  qual- 
ities (especially  the  latter)  indirectly 
save  mill  corporations  a  great  deal  of 
expense.  The  word  which  heads  this 
article  is  a  New  England  word,  and  is 
one  of  the  strong  characteristics  of  the 
New  England  people.  " Stick- to-itive- 
ness"  and  tenacity  are  synonymous 
terms.  Of  course,  we  have  all  heard 
those  expressions,  "Stick  to  it.  It  will 
make  a  man  of  you,"  or  "Stick  to  it, 
you'll  be  a  man  before  your  mother," 
etc.;  and  the  little  fellow  thus  admon- 
ished, stuck  to  it,  and  invariably  suc- 
ceeded in  doing  what  he  intended  to 
do. 

Some  folks  say  that  ambition  is 
what  impels  a  person  onward  and  ud- 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


29 


ward  to  the  goal  he  desires,  but  in  the 
writer's  estimation,  "stick-to-itiveness" 
has  more  to  do  with  it  than  ambition. 
Ambition  is  nothing  without 

GRIT  TO  CARRY  OUT 
the  project.  Ambition  will  make  a  man 
want  to  do  a  thing,  but  he  might  con- 
tinue to  want  to  do,  and  never  accom- 
plish anything,  and  ambition  might 
compel  him  even  to  make  one  attempt, 
and  he'd  fail,  and  give  it  up,  but  it  is 
the  "stick-to-itiveness"  in  a  man's 
make-up  that  accomplishes  things  in 
the  end.  There  is  not  a  single  Ameri- 
can citizen  in  any  mill  in  this  country 
but  has  the  ambition  to  be  something 
better  than  he  is — why  that  is  human 
nature ;  but  it  is  the '  ■stick-to-itiveness" 
that  makes  the  overseers,  superintend- 
ents and  agents  in  our  mill  life.  Most 
successful  mill  men  can  look  back  in 
their  varied  mill  careers,  and  remem- 
ber the  time  when  it  was  not  ambition 
that  carried  them  over  the  rough 
places;  it  was  the  sick-to-itiveness" 
that  won  the  battle;  that  "try-again" 
in  him,  that  got  there.  The  "powers 
that  be"  in  the  office  demanded  certain 
things,  and  said  so  and  so  (naming 
some  other  mill)  was  doing  thus  and 
so,  and  asked  why  it  could  not  be  done 
here.  Well,  in  some  cases  the  over- 
seer would  get  mad,  and  quit,  and  in 
other  cases  the  overseer  would  say, 
"We'll  see  what  we  can  do,"  and  pro- 
ceed to  do  it. 

A  CASE  IN  POINT. 

The  selling  agent  of  a  mill  will  send 
along  a  sample  of  cloth,  and  write  that 
it  is  the  kind  of  finish  he  wants  on  the 
goods.  Well,  the  manager  takes  a  trip 
down  to  the  boss  finisher,  and  says  to 
him,  "There,  match  that."  Well,  pos- 
sibly that  boss  finisher  thought  he  was 
getting  an  A-1  finish  on  his  goods,  but 
when  he  examines  this  new  sample,  he 
finds  his  finish  is  not  in  it,  so  he  pro- 
ceeds to  experiment  with  his  starch,  his 
steam,  his  calendar,  etc.,  and  after 
sticking  to  it  a  while,  he  succeeds  in 
matching  the  finish  desired. 

in  ^npth^r  c^,sethe  superintendent  of 


a  certain  mill  goes  off  on  a  short  va- 
cation, and  while  away  the  crank-pin 
on  his  Cooper-Corliss  engine  proceeds 
to  get  hot,  and  all  the  engineer  can 
do  will  not  keep  it  cool.  He  stops  the 
engine,  cools  it  off,  and  works  on  it  a 
while;  starts  it  up,  and  it  continues 
to  heat.  He  worries  over  it  for  a  day 
or  so,  then  gives  it  up  in  disgust,  and 
goes  on  a  big  drunk  (took  sick  he 
said).  The  manager  telegraphs  for 
the  superintendent  to  come  back  from 
his  vacation.  He  comes  back,  and  pro- 
ceeds to  stick  to  it;  and  after  worry- 
ing over  it  considerably,  he  finds  the 
cause  of  the  trouble,  remedies  the  de- 
fect, and  all  is  well. 

Many  a  man  has  had  the  ambition 
to  do  a  certain  thing,  and  after  one  or 
two  failures  in  the  attempt,  has  given 
it  up  in  disgust.  Another  man  comes 
along  with  that  self-same  ambition  the 
other  fellow  had,  but  he  sticks  to  it 
and  succeeds. 

Of  course,  the  writer  of  this  article 
could  go  on  and  cite 

NUMBERLESS  CASES 

of  "stick-to-itiveness"  that  accomplish- 
ed things;  cases  that  are  fresh  in  our 
minds  to-day.  What  got  Cook  and 
Peary  to  the  North  Pole?  "Stick-to- 
itiveness."  What  caused  the  Wright 
brothers  to  be  such  successful  avia- 
tors? "Stick-to-itiveness."  Ambition 
is  naught  unless  it  is  coupled  with 
that  grit  that  makes  a  man  try  again, 
and  anyone  who  has  ever  worked  in  a 
cotton  mill  knows  that  it  takes  more 
than  ambition  to  get  there.  Let  me 
give  you  a  case  where  "stick-to-itive- 
ness" and  a  little  ingenuity  worked 
wonders  in  a  slasher-room.  This  mill 
in  question  was  making  fancy  ging- 
hams, and  a  good  proportion  of  the  pat- 
terns called  for  double  beam  dobbie 
work.  Now,  for  a  while  this  extra 
beam  had  to  be  worked  separately 
from  the  balance  of  the  warps  on  the 
slasher;  that  is,  it  was  sized  in  the  dye- 
house,  beamed  by  itself,  and  did  not 
get  with  the  other  warps  until  it 
reached  the  loom.     Now,  to  obviate 


26 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


the  extra  sizing  of  this  dobbie  beam 
our  superintendent 

RIGGED  UP  A  CONTRIVANCE 

on  the  slasher,  so  it  could  be  sized 
with  the  balance  of  the  warps.  On  the 
front  end  of  the  slasher-bonnet  he  at- 
tached a  roller,  with  forked  slots  at 
each  end,  in  which  was  placed  the  small 
dobbie  beam,  this  beam  being  held  to 
the  roller  by  means  of  leather  straps 
and  weights.  Right  out  in  front  of 
this  roller  was  attached  a  coarse  reed 
through  which  the  yarn  was  run  to 
give  it  the  desired  spread,  when  it 
reached  the  dobbie  beam  a;bove.  This 
whole  arrangement  was  driven  by  a 
belt  from  the  tin  measuring  roll  on  the 
front  frame  of  the  slasher.  The  above 
system  allowed  the  dobbie-beam  to  get 
the  same  size  and  the  same  tension  as 
the  balance  of  the  warps;  therefore,  it 
wove  better,  and  also  saved  some 
slight  expense.  Another  case  in  this 
same  mill  where  some  expense  was 
saved  was  in  the  warper-room  in  the 
following  manner:  The  capacity  of  the 
creels  on  a  bowell  ball  warper  Is 
about  600  ends;  but  it  Is  very  seldom 
they  are  run  up  to  their  full  limit,  as 
most  mills  round  here,  when  they 
want  a  300  or  a  400  end  warp,  cut  the 
mill  down  to  that  amount,  and  run 
their  warps  accordingly,  thereby  les- 
sening the  capacity  of  the  machine 
one-third,  one-fourth,  or  one-fifth,  as 
the  case  may  be. 

ONE  METHOD. 
Now,  in  this  particular  mill  that  I 
speak  of,  the  superintendent  has  taken 
off  the  two-prong  traverse  fork  which 
is  always  sent  with  a  Lowell  warper, 
and  substituted  a  four  prong  fork,  and 
he  is  thereby  enabled  to  run  his  warp- 
ers up  to  their  full  capacity  in  this 
manner.  Say,  for  instance,  he  wants 
a  chain  of  350  ends  for  black;  200  ends 
for  red,  and  50  ends  for  yellow.  He 
runs  the  entire  600  threads  of  his 
creel,  and  they  are  split  into  the  re- 
quired size  by  this  four-prong  traverse 
fork,  just  before  the  yarn  goes  to  the 


roll.  These  different  sized  warps  run  to- 
gether through  this  funnel,  and  make 
a  solid  ball,  and  are  divided  when  they 
are  wet  out  in  the  dyehouse.  The 
above  arrangement  is  not  to  be  con- 
founded with  the  short  traverse  sys- 
tem, that  is  sometimes  applied  to  Low- 
ell warpers.  The  Lowell  short  trav- 
erse arrangement  only  allows  of  mak- 
ing three  or  four  chains  of  equal  size, 
because  when  you  try  to  make  chains 
of  different  sizes,  they  build  up  on  the 
roller  very  unevenly,  while  the  ar- 
rangement we  have  allows  the  yarn  of 
any  size  chains  to  be  run  together. 

ANOTHER  CASE 
of  "stick-to-itiveness,"  and  I'm  done. 
These  last  few  years  sulphur  dyeing 
on  raw  cotton  has  been  all  the  rage, 
and  with  it  came  its  good  qualities 
and  its  bad  qualities.  In  our  dye- 
house  we  dyed  for  some  outside  mills 
besides  our  own,  and  it  necessitated 
running  the  dye  plant  day  and  night  to 
keep  up.  One  of  our  best  customers 
wanted  a  great  deal  of  sulphur  black, 
and  we  had  lots  of  trouble  with  fires 
in  our  Kitson  dryer,  especially  when 
running  on  this  particular  color.  The 
fire  would  burst  out  suddenly  every 
time  the  heat  would  get  beyond  a  cer- 
tain degree,  and  the  fans  would  fill  the 
whole  inside  of  the  dryer  with  fire, 
and  sometimes  it  got  outside  and 
caused  considerable  damage. 

The  whole  mill,  from  the  treasurer 
down  to  the  fellow  who  ran  the  dryer, 
wrestled  with  the  problem  of  how  to 
prevent  those  fires  or  get  them  out  the 
quickest  when  they  did  occur,  and  it 
remained  for  the  superintendent  to 
solve  that  problem.  After  ^'sticking  to 
it"  for  a  while,  he  evolved  the  follow- 
ing scheme: 

At  each  end  of  the  dryer  there  is  a 
drain  pipe,  running  from  the  steam  coil 
within.  To  each  of  these  drain  pipes 
he  attached  an  extra  piece  of  pipe  and 
a  valve,  and  elbowed  it  back  into  the 
dryer.  While  everything  was  running 
all  right,  of  course,  this  valve  remain- 
ed shut,  but  should  the  man  on  the 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


27 


dryer  smell  any  fire,  all  he  had  to  do 
was  to  open  these  two  valves  quickly, 
and  that  live  steam  would  pour  into 
the  dryer  and  smother  the  fire  in  an 
instant,  before  any  of  the  cotton  was 
even  scorched.  It  was  a  very  simple 
arrangement,  but  it  saved  the  company 
many  a  dollar,  and  shows  what  a  little 
"stick-to-itiveness"  will  accomplish. 
One  other  mill  in  our  neighborhood 
had  a  sulphur  black  fire,  and  burned 
up  its  entire  dye  plant,  and  scared  the 
management  so  badly  that  they  quit 
the  sulphur  business  entirely.  They 
needed  some  of  the  stuff  that  heads 
this  article. 

The  above  explanations  may  be 
crude,  but  I  think  anyone  with  a  rea- 
sonable amount  of  cotton  mill  intelli- 
gence will  understand  them. 

No.  22. 


CONCERNING  SECONDARY 
BATHS. 


I  have  been  thinking  for  a  day  or  two 
that  I  would  send  you  an  idea  that 
often  occurs  to  me  concerning  a  de- 
fect in  wool  and  worsted  mill  scour- 
ing arrangements,  with  some  attempt 
to  suggesit  improvement.  This  is  In- 
tended as  a  postscript  or  appendix  to 
what  I  have  written  to  you  about  try- 
ing to  save  steam  and  heat  about  tHe 
dyeroom.  You  know  that  there  are 
lots  of  places  where  not  only  raw  wool 
material  is  washed,  but  likewise  yarns, 
tops,  and  cloth  besides.  In  other 
plants  loose  wool  and  cloth  is  washed, 
while  in  others  again  only  raw  stock 
and  skein  stuffs. 

Well,  what  I  was  going  to  say  is 
this:  Each  of  these  departments  is 
confined  within  its  own  limits,  with- 
out being  related  to  the  others.  I 


would  arrange  them  rather  'to  work  to 
each  other's  advantage,  and  ithereby 
save  time  and  outlay  to  the  firm.  The 
generally  accepted  method  is  to  wash 
yarns  and  tops  in  heated  baths  con- 
taining ammonia,  alkali,  or  soap,  or 
any  two  or  all  three  of  these,  then  to 
rinse  in  warm  water,  and  finally  to 
run  the  baths  down  the  drain  when  we 
are  done.  It  is  much  the  same  with 
pieces.  When  we  have  used  the  baths 
from  our  cloth  scouring  we  run  them 
down  the  river.  The  raw  wool,  how- 
ever, is  very  dirty,  and  though  the 
bowls  get  exceedingly  foul  we  endeav- 
or to  use  them  as  long  as  the  sheep 
can  get  through  the  mud.  Truth  to 
tell,  we  are  sometimes  obliged  for  va- 
rious reasons  to  use  them  long  after 
their  highest  usefulness  has  gone. 
Now,  I  believe  w^e  might  have  what 
we  throw  away  in  the  first  named 
branches  of  scouring  to  assist  in  do- 
ing better  work  and  more  of  it  with 
less  trouble  and  expense  in  the  last 
case. 

T  would  therefore  suggest  that,  so 
far  as  can  be  contrived,  all  the  al- 
kali, ammonia,  soap,  and  warm  rins- 
ing baths  from  the  washing  of  worsted 
tops  and  from  yarns  be  flowed  over,  or 

PUMPED  INTO  A  TANK 

adjacent  to  the  wool  washing  machine, 
or  at  least  convenient  thereto;  from 
thence  to  be  drawn  upon  without  im- 
pediment or  loss  of  time  for  making  up 
fresh  liquors.  While  it  would  be  neith- 
er feasible  nor  expedient  to  secure  all 
the  scouring  and  rinsing  waters  from 
the  cloth  washers,  yet  I  dare  say  our 
friends  the  finishers  will  bear  me  out 
in  saying  that  the  cleanest  and  choic- 
est of  them  could  well  be  retained. 

It  is  to  be  remembered  th^t  not  only 
are  these  baths  softened  and  laden 
V7ith  a  certain  amount  of  available 
detergent,  but  they  are  also  above 
normal  temperature,  and  often  to  an 
important  extent.  Besides  this,  they 
are  not  at  all  dirty  in  comparison  to 
those  within  a  wool  washer.  Surely, 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTION^. 


then,  there  is  a  money  investment  in 
all  these  waste  waters  worthy  of  con- 
sideration. If  we  could  use  them  af- 
terwards to  cleanse  our  raw  wools  we 
might  get  the  advantage  of  the  heat 
and  alkalies  they  contain  in  addition 
to  saving  time  frequently  spent  in 
waiting  fo>r  steam  heat  when  the  gauge 
registers  low  on  the  boiler. 

Would  it  not,  then,  be  a  really  good 
thing  to  arrange  the  departments  as 
I  propose?  The  expense  involved 
would  not  be  great,  and  when  the  sys- 
tem was  once  installed  it  would  be 
practically  nothing.  With  a  tankful 
of  these  warm  suds  on  top  at  the  wool 
scourer's  elbow,  he  could  many  times 
do  better  work  without  loss  of  time,  or 
increased  cost  to  his  employer  by  run- 
ning off  at  least  a  large  portion  of 
the  filthy  liquid  In  his  machine  three 
or  four  times  a  day,  replacing  it  with 
an  equal  volume  from  the  cistern.  The 
mere  fact  of  some  modern  wool  wash- 
ing machines  being  already  equipped 
with  bath  replenishing  pumps  would 
make  no  material  difference.  I  have 
now  in  mind  a  practical  means  of  util- 
izing otherwise  wasted  and  valuable 
latherr»  and  heated  and  softened  rinse 
waters  available  for  any  kind  of  equip- 
ment. NO.  23. 


BAD  WORK  IN  COTTON 
SPINNING. 


Bad  work  is  not  always  the  fault  of 
the  cotton.  I  have  seen  the  best  of 
cotton  used,  and  the  work  turn  out  to 
be  bad. 

I  have 'also  seen  waste  and  strip- 
ping mixed  with  25  per  cent  of  good 
straight  cotton,  and  made  to  run  fair- 
ly well,  considering  the  stock.  There 
are  a  dozen  or  more  places  between 
the  dyehouse  and  spinning  room, 
where  the  staple  of  the  cotton  can  be 


cut  or  injured  to  such  an  extent,  as  to 
cause  bad  work. 

As  it  is  my  intention  to  deal  mainly 
with  the  spinning  room,  I  shall  run 
slightly  over  a  few  places  in  the  other 
rooms,  where  and  how  good  cotton  can 
be  made  to  run  badly.  Let  us  take 
the  dyehouse  first.  If  the  man  in 
charge  of  this  department  does  not  un- 
derstand dyeing  properly,  he  can  very 
easily  make  the  cotton  so  hard  that  it 
will  be  very  difficult  to  card.  The  dv- 
er  can  use  certain  chemicals  that  will 
make  the  best  of  cotton  run  badly. 
One  way  in  which  cotton  is  injured  in 
the  dyeing  is  by  not  using  enough 
softener,  or  using  enough  salt  to  make 
the  cotton  soft. 

I  could  proceed  from  the  dyehouse 
to  picker  room,  and  point  out  plac- 
es there,  but  nearly  every  one  familiar 
with  pickers  knows  how  easily  the 
fibre  of  cotton  can  be  damaged  here; 
also  how  to  prevent  the  same;  there- 
fore I  shall  proceed  to  the  card  room 
and  point  out  a  few  important  points 
there. 

First,  see  that  the  cards  have 
NO  SLACK  CLOTHING, 
then  see  that  they  are  ground  and  set 
perfectly;  do  not  try  to  card  too  fast, 
in  order  to  put  through  more  pounds 
than  will  card  properly;  If  you  do, 
you  are  certainly  injuring  the  staple. 
Next  take  the  drawing,  slubbers, 
speeders  and  intermediate  frames. 
See  that  these  are  set  right;  do  not 
overdraft  them,  for  by  so  doing  you 
are  cutting  the  staple  of  cotton, 
which  will  result  in  bad  work  in  the 
spinning  room.  Remember,  if  the 
work  runs  badly  in  the  carding,  it  will 
do  likewise  in  the  spinning.  Now  let 
us  go  on  to  the  spinning  room  and  no- 
tice where  bad  work  can  be  made.  We 
will  grant  that  the  roving  is  delivered 
from  the  card  room  to  the  spinner  in 
very  good  condition.  There  is  no  rea- 
son whatever  why  it  should  not  spin 
well,  providing  the  spinning  frames 
are  properly  adjusted.  Now,  I  wish  to 
state  as  clearly  as  I  possibly  can,  how 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


29 


the  roving  can  be  made  to  run  badly. 
I  shall  contrive  to  point  out  a  few 
places  that  are  generally  overlooked. 

The  first  place  where  work  can  be 
made  to  run  badly  is  in 

THE  ROLLS, 
and  the  way  they  are  set.  ly  you  should 
be  spinning  cotton  with  a  %-inch 
staple,  see  that  the  rolls  are  set  so  as 
not  to  overdraw  this  amount.  In  one 
place  I  have  in  mind,  the  spinner  com- 
plained of  the  work  running  so  badly 
that  he  had  to  double  up  the  hands  in 
order  to  make  any  headway.  1  knew 
that  the  roving  was  coming  right 
from  the  card  room;  therefore,  I  had 
no  hesitancy  in  telling  the  spinner 
that  the  fault  was  in  the  spinning 
frames.  Upon  examination  we  found 
that  the  rolls  were  set  to  take  cotton 
with  an  inch  staple,  instead  of  % 
inch;  this  naturally  made  the  yarn  run 
badly.  The  second  way  where  yarn 
can  be  made  to  run  badly  is  by  the 
top  shells  being  allowed  to  run  dry. 
This  will  act  on  the  yarn  almost  the 
same  as  setting  the  rolls  too  open.  It 
will  cause  fine  places  to  appear  in  the 
yarn,  and  add  over  50  per  cent  to  the 
breakage. 

The  third  place  is  in  the  traverse 
rail,  or  as  some  call  it,  the  ring  rail, 
not  being  set  right.  There  is  what  is 
termed  a  fast  and  slow  speed  to  this 
rail.  Now  should  this  rail  go  down  on 
the  fast  speed  and  come  up  on  the 
slow,  it  will  cause  the  very  best  of 
work  to  have  a  tendency  to  run  badly. 
Always  see  that  this  rail  comes  up  on 
the  fast  speed,  and  goes  down  on  the 
slow,  and  you  will  find  work  runs 
much  better.  Of  course,  this  is  only 
an  idea  of  how  to  set  the  rail.  I  could 
not  explain  thoroughly  on  paper  just 
how  to  set  it  to  be  perfectly  right,  but 
will  say  that  the  speed  of  the  rail 
should  be  evenly  divided  in  order  to 
attain  good  work. 

Watch  these  few  points  and  keep 
your  clearer  boards  clean,  machines 
well  oiled,  and  you  will  have  good  re- 
sults. NO.  24. 


SPINNING  WOOL 


In  the  matter  of  spinning  on  woolen 
mules  we  will  start  with  the  roping 
as  you  get  it  from  the  cards,  and  qual- 
ity and  quantity  are  the  things  re- 
quired. If  the  istock  has  been  properly 
cleaned  and  oiled  it  will  give  the 
carder  a  fair  chance  to  do  his  part,  as 
you  want  the  roping  even  and  free 
from  twists,  and  it  is  the  boss  spin- 
ner's business  to  see  that  he  gets  good 
roping,  for  often  you  will  get  imper- 
fect work  because  the  card  cleaners 
have  not  got  round  soon  enough.  The 
result  is  twisty  and  lumpy  roping,  and 
often  a  few  spools  made  when  the  card 
is  in  that  condition  will  make  bad 
spinning  and  thereby  lessen  the  pro- 
duction and  make  weak  and  uneven 
yarn.  The  boss  spinner,  then,  has  to 
watch  for  this  and  report  to  the  carder 
at  once.  In  changing  to  cotton  or  other 
short  stock  see  that  your  roping  is  not 
too  tight  as  it  leaves  the  spool  drums 
or  you  will  have  bad  spinning.  This 
may  seem  a  simple  matter,  but  it  is 
not  always  noticed  as  soon  as  it  should 
be. 

Another  thing  is  to  keep  the  rollers 
as  clean  as  possible,  as  a  little  lump 
of  grease  or  a  piece  of  waste  that  has 
got  into  the  journal  and  projects  a  lit- 
tle would  keep  lifting  the  top  roller 
and  allow  the  end  to  slip  out.  I  have 
seen  boys  keep  piecing  up  the  same 
end  time  after  time  and  never  looking 
for  the  cause,  which  was  as  stated 
above.  Have  the  roping  the  right 
weight  so  that  you  have  good  spin- 
ning, but  not  too  light  or  you  will  not 
have  good  yarn.  For  medium  work 
a  draft  of  about  35  to  40  per  cent  Is 
right.    If  you  have  not 

ENDLESS  SPINDLE  BANDS 
on  be  careful  about  tying  the  other 
kind  on  so  that  they  are  not  too  tight 
or  the  mule  will  run  heavy  as  well 
as  cause  tin  rollers  to  break  or  slip  at 
couplings.  Do  not  have  your  drive 
belt  too  tight,  as  that  causes  the  mule 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


to  start  up  too  suddenly  and  causes 
breakages.  For  coarse  work,  say  from 
one  run  and  heavier,  I  prefer  a  spin- 
dle 10 V2  inches  above  collar  boards 
and  2V2  inch  gauge,  24  ends  to  spool. 
Use  paper  tubes  9  inches  long,  as  they 
are  lighter  than  wood  bobbins  and  re- 
quire no  packing  or  any  other  encum- 
brance on  the  spindle  and  will  allow 
of  greater  speed.  The  yarn  wound 
under  in  doffing  you  lift  up  with  the 
cop  when  the  accumulation  demands, 
and  this  is  much  easier  than  cutting 
off,  which  is  generally  a  disagreeable 
job.  Have  the  spinners  on  day  work 
and  keen  sufficient  help  to  hustle  the 
doffing.  The  overseer  knows  as  to  the 
quantity  each  mule  should  turn  off,  so 
there  is  not  much  chance  for  a  lazy 
spinner.  Eternal  vigilance  is  the 
price  of  success  in  spinning  as  in  other 
things.  No.  25. 

A  DYEHOUSE  DEFECT. 


T  wish  to  say  a  word  on  the  working 
of  the  dyehouse  in  cotton  mills  where 
there  are  some  mistakes  being  made. 
The  first  thing  for  any  mill  to  consider 
is  hiring  a  dyer  that  understands  his 
business,  and  any  man  that  is  a  man 
will  use  his  judgment  for  the  interest 
of  his  company.  Sometimes  the  super- 
intendent or  manager  will  go  to  the 
dyehouse  and  find  the  dyer  getting 
along  all  right.  But  the  first  thing 
you  know  the  superintendent  comes 
and  says  to  the  dyer,  *'We  will  be 
bound  to  cut  some  of  the  expense  in 
tnis  room."  **Well,  how  are  you  go- 
ing to  cut?''  He  will  say  by  cutting 
a  man  or  two  out.  As  I  have  said,  the 
dyer  is  getting  along  all  right,  so  here 
goes  the  man  or  two,  as  the  case  may 
be.  So  they  have  cut  on  a  small  scale 
— one  man.  The  dyer  starts  off  with 
one  man  less  than  it  takes  to  keep  up 
his  work.  He  finds  his  work  getting 
behind,  and  after  a  while  the  mill  Is 
right  up  with  the  dyehouse.    So  I  will 


try  to  show  you  where  the  mill  has  lost 
more  than  it  has  gained.  Take  raw 
stock.  On  a  small  scale  it  takes  three 
dyeings  per  day,  1,000  pounds  each. 
The  mill  wants  dark  blue.  The  dyer 
goes  to  work  and  dyes  1,000  pounds  of 
blue.  By  the  time  he  gets  that  done 
he  is  out  of  brown.  He  empties  the 
vat  and  starts  Ms  brown.  When  he  gets 
that  done  he  is  out  of  black.  Out  it 
goes,  in  comes  the  black.  Either  one 
of  those  baths  costs  more  than  it 
would  have  cost  the  company  to  give 
help  enough  to  keep  his  work  up,  cost 
more  water,  more  steam,  more  dye- 
stuff,  than  if  he  could  have  had  the 
time  to  keep  a  standing  bath  and  use 
it.  There  are  more  wayis  than  one  to 
save  cost.  Be  sure  you  are  right  and 
then  go  ahead.  No.  26. 


WASTE  IN  COTTON  MILLS. 


The  waste  box  should  receive  more 
attention  than  is  usually  given  it.  In 
a  great  many  mills,  especially  in  the 
South,  more  money  goes  into  the 
waste  box  than  is  paid  out  in  wages 
to  all  the  overseers  in  the  mill;  money 
that  was  paid  out  for  good  cotton,  and 
which  should  be  turned  back  into  the 
treasury  of  the  company  with  a  prof- 
it; instead,  it  is  sold  as  waste  at  less 
than  cost,  hence,  a  loss. 

Few  overseers  realize  the  necessity 
of  looking  after  the  waste  closely. 
Take  the  weave  room,  for  instance, 
where  the  waste  loss  is  usually  the 
greatest;  all  wasted  in  this  room  costs 
the  company  more  money  than  any 
other  waste,  because  it  has  paid  for 
the  carding,  spinning,  spooling,  warp- 
ing, beaming  and  slashing.  All  this 
added  to  the  cost  of  the  raw  cotton 
makes  an  enormous  amount. 

There  are  numerous  ways  to  pre- 
vent this  waste.    We  will  first  take 

THE  YARN  BEAM. 
The  usual  way  to  start  the  yarn  on 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


31 


this  beam  is  to  warp  it.  An  improve- 
ment over  this  method  is  to  fasten  a 
piece  of  heavy  cloth  to  the  yarn  beam, 
long  enough  to  reach  up  on  a  level 
with  the  front  roll  of  the  slasher;  have 
button  holes  in  the  end  of  this  piece 
of  cloth,  into  which  tie  the  end 
of  the  warp;  then  start  the  slasher  in 
the  usual  way.  When  a  beam  of  this 
kind  runs  empty  on  the  loom,  all  the 
warp  waste  you  have  is  from  the  whip 
roll  to  fell  of  cloth  (less  than  a  yard) 
because,  with  the  wooden  beam  cov- 
ered with  cloth,  the  knots  where  the 
warp  is  tied  to  this  clo^th  (usually 
aibout  four)  will  run  up  to  the  whip 
roll  in  weaving  off  before  it  is  neces- 
sary for  them  to  be  cut  out.  This 
method  of  fastening  warps  to  the  loom 
yarn  beam  will  prevent  at  least  50 
pounds  of  waste  per  month  on  each 
100  looms  on  medium  counts  and  much 
more  on  coarse  yarns. 

Another  place  to  prevent  the  accu- 
mulation of  waste  is  in  the  care  and 
attention  given 

THE  FILLING, 

and  in  properly  adjusting  the  filling 
motion  on  the  looms. 

The  weave  room  overseer  should  be 
constantly  on  the  lookout  for  bad  fill- 
ing, keeping  the  spinner  and  superin- 
tendent informed  of  the  condition  of 
the  filling  received  daily,  thereby  pre- 
venting a  lot  of  waste  from  bad  fill- 
ing. 

Wherever  Northrop  looms,  with  the 
feeler  motion  or  pick  finder,  are  used, 
there  should  be  a  competent  man  to 
examine  the  feelers  every  day,  for  if 
the  feeler  does  not  reach  far  enough 
into  the  shuttle,  it  will  knock  out  the 
quill  too  soon,  thereby  causing  a  lot  of 
unnecessary  waste  to  be  left  on  the 
quill. 

With  the  yarn  beam  covered  with 
cloth,  as  above  described,  and  the 
overseer  constantly  on  the  lookout  as 
to  the  filling,  the  percentage  of  waste 
ought  to  be  very  low.  No.  27. 


DYEHOUSE  DEFECTS. 


Water  and  steam  are  our  best 
friends,  and  in  some  cases  prove  to 
be  enemies. 

So  when  you  have  good  water  and 
plenty  of  real  live  isteam,  they  are  the 
best  help  towards  giving  good  produc- 
tion of  the  best  quality. 

In  a  dyeing  plant  next  in  line 
comes  the  machines,  such  as  dye  ket- 
tles of  various  kinds.  Of  late,  there 
have  been  many  new  inventions,  but 
sitill  we  have  quite  !a  number  of  the 
old  defects  cropping  up  at  various 
times ;  some  in  different  forms  have  al- 
so come  along  with  the  new  improve- 
ments, and  together  with  the  evolu- 
tion of  dyes  and  drugs  used,  you 
must  agree  when  goods  such  as  pieces, 
stock  and  yarns,  are  in  a  good  condi- 
tion on  their  delivery  at  the  dyehouse, 
it  is  only  with  the  greatest  care  that 
they  are  sent  out  again,  in  as  strong 
and  perfect  condition  as  they  were 
when  delivered.  Any  way,  we  will 
start  with  a  thought  that  all  things 
are  equal,  for  the  desired  results  to 
be  given. 

Having  a  plentiful  supply  of  steam 
and  water,  entering  the  goods  into  the 
dye  bath,  whatever  they  be,  at  the  va- 
rious temperatures  required,  see  that 
they  are  given  a  proper  and  lengthy 
time  to  reach  a  boil. 

It  is  very  difficult  for  some  kettle  or 
machine  tenders  to  know  whether  the 

WATER  IS  BOILING 
or  only  bubbling,  or  at  what  rate  of 
heat  or  temperature  they  are  bringing 
it  along.  It  is  by  picking  out  some 
diligent  and  intelligent  man  or  men 
in  the  crowd  of  workers,  and  giving 
him  a  limited  quantity  of  kettles  to 
attend  to,  according  to  the  quality  of 
the  goods  and  location  of  kettles,  that 
satisfactory  results  may  be  reached. 
Have  them  strictly  watch  such  ma- 
chines, and  nothing  else.    Give  ithem 


S2 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIO^JS. 


a  Fahrenheit  temperature  glass,  with 
instructions  as  to  its  use,  and  by  ju- 
dicious treatment  by  overseers  and 
second  hands,  those  men  will,  in  a  very 
short  time,  be  able  to  regulate  the 
boils.  They  can  be  also  got  into  the 
way  you  require  them  to  be  treated  as 
to  cool-downs  which  is  another  import- 
ant feature,  also  washing  off  when  re- 
quired. 

1  wish  to  suggest  a  quarter-inch  by- 
pass in  all  steam  pipes  connected  with 
dye  kettles.  This,  in  many  instances, 
saves  steam  and  accidents,  such  as  a 
kettle  boiling  over,  or  boiling  too 
hard.  When  boiling  any  dye  products, 
the  main  valve  is  liable  to  be  a  little 
loose,  and  with  pressure  opens  up  up- 
on its  own  hook,  so  when  a  kettle  is 
brought  to  a  boil  usually  the  quarter- 
inch  by-pass  will  just  keep  it  so,  and 
the  main  valve  remains  closed,  saving 
wear  and  tear  of  same,  and  an  undue 
amount  of  steam  being  used.  It  also 
allows  a  second  hand,  having  fed  the 
kettle,  to  leave  it  with  confidence  for 
a  given  tim^e,  as  Tom  or  Dick  will  for^ 
get  anything  they  are  asked  to  see  to 
when  otherwise  employed.  This  is 
also  worthy  of  notice  on 

SOAP  BOILING  TANKS. 
When  once  they  are  fixed,  all  engi- 
neers and  pipers  who  I  have  had  do 
such  work  for  me,  say,  why  did  they 
not  think  of  so  simple  a  thing?  Al- 
though not  an  entirely  new  feature,  T 
will  allow  It  is  too  much  overlooked 
by  all  users  of  steam  who  are  crying 
out  for  economy  in  the  line  of  steam 
or  coal. 

I  now  offer  a  suggestion  for  piece 
dye  kettle  boiling,  cooling  and  wash- 
ing: 

Take,  for  example,  a  feed  box  taking 
an  ordinary  kettle,  9  feet  by  6  feet, 
drafted  from  back  to  front  of  box, 
within  2  feet,  having  a  capacity  for  500 
pounds  of  cloth,  arranged  for  12  piec- 
es or  less.  The  feed  box  is  11  inches 
wide,  showing  four  pipes,  preferably 
brass,  below  the  water  line,  to  ensure 
long   life   against    salts,    acids  and 


steam;  they  also  are  a  great  preventa- 
tive against  rust  spots.  Two  pipes 
are  for  steam,  sizes  1  inch  or  %  pipe 
may  go  in  some  cases,  valves  to  each. 
Two  pipes  are  for  water,  valves  to 
each  pipe  within  easy  reach,  size  of 
water  pipe  li^  inches,  with  a  quantity 
of  1^  or  %  holes,  enough  to  insure  a 
free  flow  of  water.  There  is  one 
steam  pipe  and  one  water  pipe  from 
right  and  left  hand.  The  holes  in  the 
steam  pipes  are  %  to  3-16,  two  rows  in 
each  pipe,  6  inches  apart,  one  line 
straight  up  the  centre;  the  second 
line  on  a  slight  angle  inwards  to  box. 
It  will  be  seen,  toy  putting  the  holes  6 
inches  apart  on  the  two  lines  inter- 
mediately, they  will  come  within  3 
inches  of  each  other.  In  this  way  the 
sprays  combine,  making  an  average 
circulation  or  iboil.  There  are  two  ordi- 
nary plugs,  one  at  each  corner  of  box, 
also  two  overflow  pipes  at  the  back 
of  the  kettle  for  cooling  purposes. 

THE  COLD  WATER 

entering  in  the  'box  forces  the  heat  to 
the  back,  thus  calling  for  overflow 
pipes  in  the  back,  more  usually  found 
in  the  front  of  most  kettles,  as  they 
cool  off  behind  some  by-sprays.  This 
suggestion  given  ensures  the  cloth  or 
yarn  against  cold  water  until  such 
times  as  required.  I  further  suggest 
a  board.  This  ensures  against  streaks, 
etc.,  from  any  dyes  having  been  im- 
properly dissolved,  as  all  liquor  newly 
added  must  then  go  through  some 
water  before  striking  the  cloth,  the 
board  acting  as  a  preventative  against 
many  troubles  from  additions. 

SUGGESTIONS. 

Set  the  pipes  good  and  firm  upon  3- 
inch  by  4-inch  blocks.  This  raises 
them  up  from  the  kettle  bottom,  and 
allows  free  access  to  clean  any  flocks 
or  sediment  from  or  around  the  pipes; 
also  have  the  feed  box  at  least  11  inch- 
es wide,  and  the  rack  of  feed  box 
stand  2  inches  above  the  bottom  of  the 
kettle,  to  allow  free  drainage. 

This  may  appear  a    rather  lengthy 


TiXTlLi   bEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


^3 


article,  but,  desiring  to  make  all  de- 
tails as  clear  as  possible,  the  writer 
wishes  to  say,  should  any  explanations 
be  further  required,  they  will  be  given 
with  the  greatest  of  pleasure. 

No.  28. 


GENERAL  SUGGESTIONS. 


Part  1. 

All  the  readers  of  this  paper  have 
certainly  noticed  lately  that  in  the 
building,  the  harvesting  machinery, 
the  automobile  and  the  cotton  and 
worsted  machinery  trades  especially, 
the  United  States  is  foirging  ahead  of 
all  nations.  I  think  this  country  will 
lead  the  world  in  woolen  machinery 
also  and  in  the  textile  trade  in  gen- 
eral within  a  few  years  if  we  keep  on 
doing  our  level  best  to  improve  our 
machinery  and  use  the  most  modern 
ways  to  get  the  best  possible  work  out 
of  it. 

SHODDY  MILLS. 
In  rag  picking,  the  bottom  feed  rolls 
of  pickers  ought  to  be  twice  as  big  as 
they  are  now  in  order,  first,  to  get  it 
as  big  as  the  top  ones  when  necessary 
rags  are  wound  around  ithem;  se-^ona, 
to  get  more  hold  on  the  ishort  rags; 
third  not  to  have  the  top  ones  pulling 
the  rags  any  faster  than  the  bottom 
ones;  fourth,  to  be  able  to  set  the  bot- 
tom ones  as  close  to  the  heater  as  the 
top  ones  are  when  wound  up  with  nec- 
essary rags.  For  returining  to  the 
feed  apron,  the  flyings  thrown 
back  of  the  pickers  should  drop  into  a 
pipe  as  wide  as  the  picker  is,  connect- 
ed by  an  elbow  to  a  narrower  one  go- 
ing right  over  the  feed  apron  near  the 
picker's  itop.  Have  a  big  fan  for  so 
many  pickers  connected  with  all  the 
back  pipes  to  blow  those  flyings  right 
back  over  the  feed  apron  through  those 
pipes. 

WOOLEN  MILLS. 

In  the  picking  room  boiling  of  oil 
and    water'    not    over    170  degrees 


Fahrenheit  should  not  be  by  guessing 
at  it,  as  is  done  in  some  miKs.  The 
emulsion  should  be  used  at  once  after 
boiling  and  none  allowed  to  remain 
in  the  tank,  otherwise  the  quality  of 
the  emulsion,  the  next  time,  would  be 
doubtful,  and  cheaper  looking  goods 
are  likely  to  be  the  resu'lt. 

In  woolen  mills  using  a  good 
amount  of  shoddy,  the  picker  man 
should  examine  the  shoddy  carefully 
and  get  acquainted  with  the  kind  and 
quantity  of  emulsion  or  oil  they  use 
on  the  rags  of  each  kind  in  most  of  the 
shoddy  mills  to  he  able  to  figure  out 
the  proper  amount  of  oil  and  water, 
or  oil  only,  he  wants  on  his  mixings. 

On  wool  and  shoddy  and  cotton  and 
shoddy  mixings  a  sheet  should  be  fix- 
ed in  front  of  the  picker  in  order  to 
have  the  whole  stock  drop  in  front  of 
the  picker  and  not  allow  the  lighter 
stock  to  fly  all  around  and  have  the 
shoddy  only  in  front  of  the  picker, 
causing  an  uneven  mixing.  Careless 
work  in  this  department  will  cause 
trouble  all  over  the  mills. 

CARDING  ROOM. 

The  carding  machines  should  be 
built  with  sitrippers  and  workers  driv- 
ing outside  of  the  frame.  The  present 
inside  driving  is  a  big  draught  pro- 
ducer, causes  a  loss  of  stock  and  time 
for  cleaning  up,  a  cause  of  fancy  belts 
slippings  and  bad  work  all  through  the 
cards  and  often  bad  side  ends  on  fin- 
ishers. There  should  be  a  screen 
waste  saver  in  an  endless  apron  under 
cards  and  garnett  machines,  the  kind 
of  screen  seen  on  finishing  machines  in 
paper  mills,  and  this  apron  running 
toward  the  back  of  the  machine  should 
deposit  the  waste  over  another  cross 
narrow  apron  running  toward  the  out- 
side of  the  machine  where  a  small  fan 
would  suck  it  and  blow  it  either  back 
in  the  feed  or  in  a  duster  or  in  any 
waste  box.  This  combination  of 
aprons  could  be  used  specially  and 
profitably  in  shoddy  carding,  carpet 
mills,  bedding  factories,  carpet  com- 
forters, fiax  mills,  in  all  mills  using 


34 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


dry,  dirty  or  short  stock  and  in  woolen 
mills  generally. 

SPINNING  ROOM. 
The  steel  tubes  over  faller  wires  in 
sections  between  each  faller  finger. 
Being  lose  over  the  wire  they  would 
be  apt  to  prevent  the  breaking  of  ends 
in  wear  of  wire  when  the  mule  backs 
in.  There  should  be  a  small  rod  fixed 
on  top  of  the  carriage  (back  side  of 
mule)  in  two  sections,  one  on  each 
side  of  the  mule,  driven  by  squaring 
band  motion,  catching  broken  ends, 
winding  them  around  it,  breaking 
chem  a  few  inches  from  'the  rolls  and 
so  preventing  the  spinner  from  pick- 
ing them  on  the  fly  or  oin  the  car- 
riage and  from  having  coarse  and 
soft  ends  wound  up  on  the  bobbins  and 
showing  up  in  the  cloth.  There  should 
also  be  a  casting  with  long  slot,  hold- 
ing an  idle  pulley,  which  could  be 
moved  in  a  minute  against  ithe  beilts 
to  tighten  them  up  for  a  while  when 
the  machines  run  hard,  in  damp  or 
cold  weather  especially.  This  pulley 
should  be  moved  away  from  ithe  belts 
as  soon  as  the  machines  seem  to  run 
easier. 

In  most  mills  all  over  ithe  country 
they  do  not  seem  to  realize  that  wihen 
it  is  possible  to  keep  the  yarn  a  few 
weeks  they  give  a  chance  to  the  twis-t 
to  set  in,  and  that  it  holds  its  strength 
better  on  the  loom  and  in  the  finish- 
ing room  and  makes  better  goods. 
A  FEW  HINTS. 

A  monthly  premium  of  $1  or  so  to 
every  one  of  the  help  (especially  those 
working  by  the  piece),  for  regular 
cleanliness  of  his  room  and  machines 
and  for  good  work  and  behavior  and 
good  care  of  the  waste,  the  judge  to 
be  the  superintendent  in  small  mills 
and  the  overseer  of  each  department 
in  big  mills.  TIhe  good  results  of  this 
scheme  should  pay  largely  in  the  long 
run  for  this  premium's  expemses.  In 
mills  where  many  foreigners  and  green 
hands  are  occupied,  have  the  mills 
started  up  ten  minutes  earlier  every 
morning  and  stop  an  hour  earlier  on 


Saturdays  and  let  each  overseer  or  a 
second  hand  stay  an  extra  hour  in  the 
mills.  Show  tliem  some  good  points 
about  the  work  and  teach  them  a  few 
words  of  English  as  well.  This,  in 
my  mind,  should  be  a  good  way  to 
make  more  skilful  hands  out  of  them 
and  to  Americanize  them  more  quickly. 

Monthly  meeting  of  overseers  of 
each  mill  at  the  superintendent  or 
agent's  office  to  discuss  topics  concern- 
ing the  mills.  These  topics  should  be 
chosen  by  the  superiniteoident  or  agent 
at  least  two  or  three  days  before  each 
meeting  and  each  overseer  should 
know  them  not  less  than  one  day  be- 
fore the  meeting.  This  would  give 
every  one  a  chance  to  express  his  own 
views  and  make  these  meetings  very 
practical  for  the  good  of  the  mills. 


Part  11. 

I  will  now  continue  with  a  few  mor^ 
suggestions  regarding  improvements  to 
woolen  machinery  especially.  It  has 
occurred  to  my  mind  several  times 
these  last  few  years  that  some  radical 
change  ought  to  be  made  to  perfect 
wool  pickers,  shoddy  lumpers  and  card 
feeders,  and  for  that  purpose  I  would 
suggest  the  folllowing  combinations: 

In  front  of  each  wool  mixing  picker 
or  of  lumpers  in  shoddy  mills  I  would 
have  two  or  three  feeders  connected  to 
two  or  three  one  cylinder  garnett 
machines.  A  pipe  would  take  the 
stock  from  (the  wool  picker  to  the  gar- 
nett machine  feeders,  and  would  be 
connected  to  the  main  pipe  by  a  kind 
of  a  T,  right  between  the  picker  and 
the  garnett  macihlnery  feeders.  The 
so-called  main  pipe  would  be  the  one 
the  stock  went  through,  from  under  the 
garnett  machine  combs  to  the  stock 
bin  or  to  the  card  room.  The  T  pipe 
would  permit  the  picking  of  easy  card- 
ed stock  without  garnetting  it.  This 
combination  would  do  away  with  cards, 
and  metallic  breasts,  thereby  avoiding 
chewing  of  easy  carded  stock;  there 
would  be  no  loss  of  time  in  the  card 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


35 


room  to  clean  them,  no  rolling  of  stock 
wnen  they  get  dirty,  no  loss  of  time,  al- 
so by  breast  being  choked  up,  especial- 
ly in  shoddy  mills.  Two  or  three  61- 
inch  garnetts  could  keep  up  to  a  48- 
inch  picker,  thereby  saving  the  cost  of 
a  number  of  first  breaker  b. easts.  More 
garnett  cleaning  could  be  done  also  in 
the  picker  room  without  loss  of  time 
for  the  card's  production,  and  better 
work  done  ail  around.  The  carder 
could  take  care  of  the  garnetts  if  nec~ 
essary,  and  space,  so  limited  in  some 
card  rooms,  could  be  saved  in  that  way 
also.  A  grid  under  the  garnetts  would 
be  practical  also  to  save  some  waste. 

To  overcome  light  and  uneven  feeds 
I  would  have 

A  DOUBLE  BOTTOM 

in  the  card  feeder  boxes,  the  top  one 
made  up  of  solid  screen,  distant  about 
nve  incnes  from  the  spike  apron,  12 
mcnes  or  more  higher  than  the  present 
bottom  one,  and  inclined  down  about 
three  inches  towards  the  spike  apron. 
Between  these  two  bottoms  1  would 
have  an  iron  paddle  moving  back,  and 
forth  with  iron,  %  inch  wide,  inch 
thick,  smooth,  flat  fingers,  seven  inches 
long,  two  inches  space  between  them, 
straight  up  and  to  be  driven  by  the 
.  feeder's  main  shaft  at  30  strokes  per 
minute.  This  paddle,  in  my  mind, 
would  overcome  light  feeds,  bad  work, 
loss  of  time,  and  spoiling  of  good  stock, 
when  there  is  not  enough  stock  in  the 
feeder's  box  to  insure  the  proper 
amount  of  stock  being  delivered  to  the 
scale  pan  before  it  is  knocked  open  by 
pressing  the  stock  slipping  down  from 
the  top  bottom  lightly  against  the  spike 
apron,  and  insuiing  a  quicker  delivery 
to  the  scale  when  there  is  not  much 
stock  in  the  feeder's  box.  There  is  no 
danger  of  the  paddle  being  choked  by 
the  stock,  as  it  would  move  freely  be- 
tween tne  two  Doitomis.  Tne  dirt  could 
drop  down  tnrough  the  top  bottom, 
made  up  of  a  solid  screen,  and  not  in- 
terfere with  the  paddle  which,  being  so 
fixed,  would  insure  regular  feeds  as 
long  as  the    stock  lasts.    A  poor  or 


dirty  (splke  apron  is  often  the  cause 
of  uneven  feeds,  and  this  paddle  would 
overcome  such  trouble,  partially  at 
least,  by  pressing  the  stock  against  it. 
Every  carder  knows  that  with  the  pres- 
ent system  he  has  to  get  the  feeder's 
boxes  at  least  three-fourths  full 
to  insure  even  feeds.  Many  patent- 
ed appliances,  quite  interesting, 
have  been  tried  lately  by  textile 
machine  builders  to  overcome  light 
feeds  trouble,  but  none  of  them 
are  the  real  thing.  In  suggesting 
the  use  of  an  iron  paddle,  I  have  also 
in  mind  to  keep  the  comb  from  comb- 
ing out  the  long  stock  first  in  mixings 
made  up  of  short  and  long  blend,  and 
also  of  having  a  man  to  watch  the 
same  feeder's  box  15  or  20  minutes 
when  a  batch  runs  out. 

To  prevent  lumps  and  rags  going 
through  the  card's  feeders,  chok- 
ing up  the  aprons,  making  un- 
even feeds,  choking  up  the  feed  rolls, 
injuring  the  clothing,  spoiling  the 
stock,  and  reducing  the  quality  and 
the  amount  of  the  work's  production, 
1  would  have,  near  the  top  (back  side) 
of  spike  apron  an  iron  fan  with  four 
or  five  one-inch  smooth,  straight  from 
blades,  with  a  diameter  of  about  isix 
inches  outside  of  the  blades,  revolving 
backward,  driven  at  about  150  turns 
per  minute  when  the  spike  apron  is 
running  and  hy  it,  set  up  just  close 
enough  to  knock  the  lumps  and  rags 
off,  and  having  a  close  fitting  half  iron 
sheet  cover  to  make  It  throw  the  lumps 
and  rags  backward  in  the  feeder's  box 
or  on  some  iron  tray,  and  not  forward, 
this  being  prevented  by  the  half  cover. 
A  good,  clean  feeder's  comb,  set  up 
close  enough  on  a  good,  clean  spike 
apron  can  dry  most  lumps  and  rags 
down,  but  how  many  patched  up,  old, 
dirty  spike  aprons  are  not  running  in 
a  good  many  mills  year  in  and  year 
out,  and  combs  set  up  away  from  the 
spike  aprons  because  the  latter  does 
not  do  its  work  properly  and  in 
time,  and  in  such  a  case  lumps  go 
through  the  feeder  which  the  above 
fan  would  throw  back  in  the  feeder's 


36 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


box.  For  this  purpose  part  of  the  pres- 
ent feeder's  cover  could  be  removed 
to  make  room  for  this  fan  mthout  any 
inconvenience  to  the  istock  in  the  box. 

Where  a  five  or  six-inch  dickey  is 
used  on  the  first  or  second  breaker, 
right  over  C  centre  of  the  doffer,  I 
would  suggest  to  have  a  two  and  one- 
half  or  three-inch  one  instead,  and 
fixed  under  the  fancy,  set  lightly  in  the 
doffer's  wire,  and  with  a  No.  20  gauge 
to  the  fancy,  to  drive  it  by  the  doffer 
with  a  straight  belt,  and  have  it  cloth- 
ed the  isame  way  as  the  stripper,  with 
wire  two  numbers  finer  than  the  dof- 
fer, and  with  same  clothing  as  on  the 
workers,  except  the  hook  of  the  wire, 
to  be  twice  as  long  (leather  clothing 
preferred).  This  way  to  set,  run  and 
clothe  the  dickeys,  would  shut  the 
draft  from  the  fancy,  fsave  some  waste 
and  cleaning  up  around  the  cards,  keep 
the  doffers'  wire  sharper,  smoother  and 
more  even  than  with  the  old  way  of 
setting  them.  It  would  also  give  a 
chance  to  strip  the  doffers  without  tak- 
ing the  dickeys  off. 

ANOTHER  WAY 
to  prevent  lumps  going  through  the 
cards  would  be  to  have  an  iron  roll, 
three  inches  in  diameter,  running  for- 
ward as  the  cylinder,  iset  right  under 
the  centre  of  the  latter,  just  cloise 
enough  to  knock  the  lumps  or  bits  of 
rags  down,  this  being  done  by  two 
comb  blades  inserted  in  that  iron  roll, 
opposite  each  other,  this  roll  to  be 
driven  by  one  of  the  istrippers. 

Sitill  another  way  to  break  lumps 
would  be  to  have  a  second  tumbler,  as 
big,  clothed  the  same  way,  with  the 
same  wire,  running  forward,  set  just 
close  enough  to  the  regular  tumbler  to 
break  any  lumps  and  to  the  cylinder 
with  a  No.  24  Birmingham  gauge,  driv- 
en by  the  cylinder  with  a  straight  belt, 
and  one-fourth  faster  than  the  reg- 
ular tumbler.  Besides  breaking  any 
lumps,  this  second  tumbler  would 
save  a  good  deal  of  waste  drop- 
ping down  from  the  bad  or  dirty 
tumbler   by    taking   it   to   the  cyl- 


inder. This  second  tumbler,  of  course, 
could  be  used  only  to  break  the  lumps 
by  setting  It  away  from  the  cylinder. 
A  grid  or  board  under  the  i  egular  tum- 
bler is  not  recommended  to  save  some 
waste,  as  when  the  latter  gets  dirty  it 
rolls  the  stock  between  itself  and  the 
grid  or  takes  it  in  inches  to  the  cylin- 
der. Every  carder  knows  that  the  tum- 
bler on  the  first  breaker  especially, 
gets  most  of  the  grease  and  dirt  there  is 
in  the  stock  before  the  rest  of  the  card 
gets  dirty  and  a  small  roll,  clothed 
with  the  same  kind  of  clothing  as  the 
above  suggested  new  dickey,  running 
towards  the  cylinder,  driven  by  the 
strippers  and  set  in  lightly  into  the 
regular  tumbler,  would  be  a  good  thing 
to  keep  it  clean,  smooth  and  sharp. 
Under  the  hanger,  connecting  double 
cards,  a  second  one,  set,  clothed  and 
run  as  the  above  second  tumbler, 
would  also  save  a  good  deal  of  waste. 

A  (Serious  trouble  to  overcome  in 
woolen  mills  is  uneven  yarn  caused 
by  cards  driving  belts  slipping  on  either 
one  of  the  three  machines  where  Ap- 
perly  feeds  are  used  or  when  either 
the  first  and  second  breaker  are  cou- 
pled up  or  the  second  breaker  and  the 
finisher.  Every  carder  and  woolen 
manufacturer  knowis,  of  course,  that 

A  PARTIAL  REMEDY 
for  that  trouble  iis  to  use  creels  in- 
stead of  Apperly  feeds  and  overhead 
rovings  driving  from  one  card  to  the 
other,  ibut  this  system  is  more  expen- 
sive than  with  the  Apperly  feeds,  as 
more  hands  have  to  be  employed  to 
watch  the  creels  and  handle  the  spools, 
and  so  creels  are  discarded  in  a  good 
many  woolen  mills  for  this  reason  or 
for  another.  The  European  system  of 
weighing  the  stock  coming  out  of  the 
first  breaker  feeding  it  evenly  by  hand 
to  the  second  breaker,  coming  out  of  it 
on  a  lattice  apron  formed  into  a  lap 
of  a  certain  thickness  which  is  handled 
to  the  finisher  by  skilled  grown  help 
is  certainly  a  good  way  to  make  even 
yarn  but  it  is  not  in  favor  in  this  coun- 
try for  three  good  reasons  which  are; 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


37 


Scarcity  of  iskilled  hands  to  do  such 
work,  the  greater  number  of  them  to 
be  hired,  that  is,  one  person  for  each 
set  of  cards,  and  higher  wages  paid 
in  American  woolen  mills.  The  latter 
system  might  be  called  individual  drive 
card  system  and  the  slipping  of  belts 
is  not  an  inconvenience  for  its  regu- 
larity. Why  cannot  we  do  away  witfi 
this  cause  of  belts  slipping  by  remov- 
ing driving  belts  altogether  and  keep 
our  cards  coupled  up  and  use  Apperly 
feeds  more  economically  by  driving 
each  card  with  an  electric  motor  (on 
the  tioor,  not  on  the  ceiling)  with  an 
automatic  starting  box  and  a  circuit 
breaker  over  each  card,  this  in  case 
of  accident.  To  make  this  system 
pay,  we  must  overcome,  however,  the 
following  obstacles,  at  least  partially, 
which  are:  Extra  horse  power  in 
motors  needed  to  start  up  the  cards, 
gear  or  chain  drive  connected  to  each 
cylinder  and  no  very  noticeable  slip- 
ping on  the  part  of  each  motor  and 
reduce  the  expense  of  such  installa- 
tion to  a  price  lower  than  it  is  now 
for  any  electric  motor  as  the  great 
number  of  them  built  would  permit. 

A  group  of  one  or  two  sets  of  cards, 
all  the  machines  side  by  side,  driven  by 
the  same  motor,  might  be  practical 
also,  and  I  think  most  of  the  textile 
machines  will  be  driven  in  groups 
by  electric  motoris  in  our  most  pro- 
gressive American  mills  within  a  few 
years  after  some  problems  regarding 
electrical  drive  are  worked  out  suc- 
cessfully. 

In  finishing  this  article  1  desire  to 
call  the  attention  of  all  the  textile 
associations  of  manufacturers  and 
overseers  in  general,  and  of  the  wool- 
en manufacturers  and  textile  machine 
builders  especially,  to  the  advantage 
of  giving  due  consideration  to  most 
of  all  the  new  ideas  and  suggestions 
and  comparisons  made  by  all  the  con- 
testants of  "Defects  and  Suggestions" 
for  the  good  of  all  textile  people  in 
the  future.  The  writer  will  be  pleased 
to  give  any  further  information  about 
any  one  of  these  suggestions  to  any 


readers  of  this  paper  interested  in 
tiiem.  No.  29. 

A  FEW  SUGGESTIONS. 


I  wish  to  make  a  few  suggestions  as 
to  the  general  conditions  now  existing 
in  the  southern  cotiton  mills,  that  is, 
a  majority  ot  them.  It  seems  that  the 
one  great  object  is  to  get  a  large  num- 
ber of  pounds  through  without  enough 
atteintion  to  the  quality  of  the  prod- 
uct. You  can  rush  it  through  the  card- 
ing (and  spinning  departmentis.  But 
when  you  do  this  to  such  an  extent  as 
to  be  detiri mental  to  the  running  of 
the  yarn  in  the  weave  room,  your 
rushing  proeess  stops,  and  all  your  bad 
work  is  shown  up  in  the  defects  in  the 
cloth.  The  first,  and  fair  from  least, 
cause  fo'r  defective  yarn  its  the  mixing 
of  the  cotton  in  the  opening  room.  The 
cotton  used  in  the  mills  is  bought  from 
different  places,  and  grown  on  differ- 
ent kinds  of  so-ils,  land  under  different 
conditioniS.  And  say,  fo^r  insitaince,  you 
buy  a  100  or  500  bale  lot,  graded  as 
miiddling.  Test  the  length  of  the  staple 
in  each  bale  by  taking  a  small  sample 
from  each  side  of  the  bale,  and  'see  if 
you  don't  find  some  of  the  bales  have 
staple  from  %  inch  to  l^  inch  longer 
than  the  reist.  Theire  may  not  be  but 
very  few  in  the  lot.  But  it  doesn't 
take  but  very  little  of  the  long  istaple 
to  make  your  work  run  bad,  if  you 
have  your  machine  set  up  for  shorter 
staple,  or  vice  versa,  tnd  there  are  no 
settings  that  will  turn  out  a  good  prod- 
uct from  this  mixing.  Most  mills 
have  bad  running  work  for  a  day  or  so, 
a  lot  of  cockly  yarn  and  uneven  yarn, 
and  then  probably  the  work  will  run 
good  for  a  w^hile,  then  bad  again,  and 
most  of  the  time  'the  trouble  will  be 
found  dn  the  miixing  room. 

WASTE. 

JNlo'st  mills  use  more  or  less  of  their 
waste  made  in  the  carding  and  spin- 
ning departments,  and  where  this  is 
done  great  care  should  be  taken  to 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


ev-einly  diisitribute  it  thro'ugih  tthe  mix- 
ing, so  that  dit  will  get  thoroughly  mix- 
ed with  the  cotton,  so  as  -to  prevent  it 
from  going  through  m  buncheis.  This 
is  not  looked  after  as  elo'sely  as  it 
shO'Ulld  be  i;n  the  majority  of  mills,  and 
Is  tihei  cause  of  a  lot  of  bad  running 
work.  It  is  the  "little  things"  like 
this  that  cause  so  much  trouble  in 
mills.  While  any  one  of  the  ''little 
things"  alone  wouldn't  amount  to  very 
much,  if  you  start  at  the  open- 
ing room,  and  take  them  all  up 
through  to  the  finiished  yarn,  and  put 
them  together,  yo'u  have  a  "big  thing." 

Anid  as  I  said  at  the  ibegilnning,  the 
greateist  evil  is  caused  by  overcrowd- 
ing the  different  machlneis,  putting  too 
much  through  the  picker  room  ma- 
chinery aind  cardis,  thereby  turning  out 
a  sliver  full  of  foreign  subistanees, 
such  as  motes  and  leaf,  overspeeding 
and  drafting,  etc,  and  by  this  method 
it  is  impoisiSiible  to  turn  out  a  first-class 
product.  You  can  get  the  pounds  this 
way,  and  get  the  inside'  cost  per  pound 
down  to  a  very  low  figure,  but  does 
it  increase  your  earnings,  or  in  other 
words,  do  you  gain  more  iby  getting 
your  cost  at  the  mill  down  thaoi  you 
loise  iby  putting  an  inferior  quality  of 
goods  on  the  market?  If  so,  I  am  not 
fMe  to  isee  how.  But  I  notice  the 
mo'st  successful  mills  are  the  ones 
that  pay  more  attention  to  quality. 
First  get  quality  anid  then  all  the  quan- 
tity yoai  positively  can  to  maintain 
that  isitandard.  No.  30. 

WOOLEN  DRESSING. 


In  considering  roomis  and  machines, 
where  defects  are  made,  we  too  often 
overlook  the  dresising  room.  The 
dressing  of  warps  is  a  very  important 
factor,  as  it  is  very  easy  to  cause  bad 
cloth  by  poor  dressing.  I  ishall  en- 
deaver  to  take  up  in  detaiil,  isome  of 
the  points  that  are  overlooked  in  most 
dresislng  rooms,  buit  wihicih  cause  a  great 


deal  of  bad  work,  and  said  bad  work  is 
laid  to  all  rooms  instead  of  the  dress- 
ing room,  where  it  rightly  belongs. 
First,  it  is  the  dresser's  duty  to  see 
that  the  warp  leaves  his  room  in  a 
perfect  condition.  In  order  to  do  so, 
he  must  ever  Ido  on  the  watch  for 
broken  ends,  long  knots  and  so  forth. 
If  dressing  with  a  pin  reel,  care  should 
be  taken  to  iset  up  the  pins  right,  then 
set  the  reel  right,  so  that  the  yarn 
will  divide  evenly  between  the  pins. 
Should  one  or  more  sections  build  up 
on  one  side,  more  than  the  other,  the 
result  will  be  section  marks,  which  will 
show^  on  the  finis'hed  cloth. 

When  the  first  section  of  the  warp 
is  started,  we  use  a  full  set  of  spools. 
This  generally  requires  the  weights 
to  be  set  all  the  way  out  on  the  pad- 
dles in  order  to  have  enough  friction 
to  keep  the  yarn  from  running  slack. 
These  weights  shoiuld  be  moved  back 
a  notch  or  more,  om  each  and  every 
section,  in  order  to  have  the  same 
tent  ion  on  the  yarn  as  at  the  start. 
This  is  overlooked  by  a  majority  of 
dressers,  who  never  move  their 
weights  from  start  to  finish,  as  long 
as  the  yarn  runs  well.  The  result  is 
that  each  section  after  the  first  is 
reeled  tighter  than  the  previous,  and 
not  only  stains  the  yarn,  but  causes 
more  breakage  in  the  weaving,  also 
uneven  cloth.  Another 

VERY  BAD  FAULT, 
of  most  dressers  on  a  pin  reel 
is  after  making  the  first  section  of 
the  warp,  they  continue  with  the  next, 
and  go  straight  across  the  reel  until 
finished.  This  should  be  avoided  by 
all  means,  as  it  not  only  causes  streaky 
cloth,  but  forms  uneven  twills  on  each 
side  of  the  loom.  Should  the  cloth  be 
a  twill  weave,  this  means  that  the  twill 
will  be  fine  on  one  side  and  gradu- 
ally become  wider  at  the  other  side. 
To  prevent  this  we  musit  first  drees 
section  1,  then  push  reel  over  and 
dress  the  last  isecitiotn,  and  continue 
to  build  into  centre  from  each  end. 
In  order  to  make  this  plain,  will  say 
we  use  8  sections.  First  dress  section  1, 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


39 


then  dress  secition  8,  then  iseotiom  7, 
then  dress  sections  2  and  3,  then  sec- 
tions 6  and  5,  and  the  last  section 
will  be  4.  By  dresislng  this  way,  you 
will  overcome  a  lot  of  cook  ley  cloth, 
also  ishades,  -slack  selveges  and  un- 
even twills,  which  are  caused  by  the 
f(jrmer  way  of  dressing.  No.  31. 


MATERIALIZATION  OF 
WASTE. 


The  less  waste  you  have  in  whatever 
business  you  have  to  execuite,  the 
better  for  the  business.  Now  any 
mill  which  has  to  handle  worrstedis  itn 
large  or  smiall  quamities,  at  today's 
prices,  which  oan  use  up  its  own  waste 
to  advantage  will  benefit  greatly  when 
the  inventory  comeis  to  be  taken.  Take 
a  weave  room  with  100  loomis,  for  111- 
ustnation,  weiaving  woirsted  warps.  To 
miake  perfect  cloth  you  must  have 
spare  ends,  or  threiads,  extra,  in  case 
of  soft  (twisted  ithreads,  islubby  threads, 
knots,  or  lost  ends,  etc.,  so  the  safest 
way  is  tio  have  10  or  12  threads  run- 
ning out,  to  meet  this  emergency. 

Now  leveiry  time  a  weaver  rums  his 
warp  out  of  say  2-36  woorsted  of  560 
yards  ilemgth,  bang!  goes  Intlo  the 
waste  l)in  75  cents  to  $1  woirth  of  waste 
warp.  Say  there  were  25  looms  a  week 
on  an  aveirage  lun  o'Ut,  that  means 
$20  a  week  waste  alo'ne. 

TO  MAKE  RUG  MATS. 

Mx  a  spindle  to  ihold  a  6  in.  double 
headed  spool,  the  same  to  be  run  by 
friction  from  bottom  slhaft,  to  wind 
om  the  12  spare  ends  or  part  that  is 
not  weaving  into  cloth  on  to  the  spool, 
as  the  warp  lets  off,  the  spool  takes  up. 
(spindle  to  be  fixed  under  centre  of 
warp  beam. 

BEAMING. 
When  enough  spools,  beam  them  on 


to  a  warp  beam  also  a  beam  of  2-8 
cotton. 

DRAW  INTO  HEDDiLES. 


2 


3  fl^iMtS^ 


7^ 

pic 


WEAVING. 

Gotten  ends  weave  plain,  worsted 
rises  every  third  piick,  ito  rise  1-2  of  am 
inch  higher  than  cotton,  put  under 
worsted,  flat  rod  3-4  of  an  inch  wide, 
1-4  of  an  inch  thick,  diamond  cut 
at  one  end,  release  worsted  beam 
by  lever  at  fro'nt  of  loom,  draw  in  the 
rod,  weave  three  picks  moTe,  cut 
w  or  Sited  with  isharp  knife  and  repeat. 
36  inches  wide,  72  inches  long. 

No.  32. 


RAW  STOCK  DYEING. 


Wool  and  wool  products  are  still 
very  frequently  dyed  in  the  old  style 
round  tub,  from  six  to  seven  feet  in 
diameter,  four  to  five  feet  deep,  with 
false  bottom  six  to  eight  inches  for 
boiling  space,  and  perforated  grates  of 
cast  iron  resting  upon  a  wooden  rim 
around  the  kettle  bottom,  supported  by 
a  centre  round  plate  having  four  legs 


40 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


or  supports.  For  saving  steam  and  la- 
boir  have  an  inside  pan  or  kettle  that 
can  be  raised  and  deposited  into  an- 
other kettle.  These  inside  kettles,  as 
we  will  call  them,  may  be  made  after 
the  style  of  an  extractor  basket,  'but 
the  hole  should  be  in  the  bottom  to 
take  the  place  ol  the  perforated  grates 
mentioned  above.  This  basket  may  be 
made  to  fit  inside  the  ordinary  wooden 
kettle,  just  allowing  space  enough  to 
be  raised  up  oir  loweired.  It  would 
rest  upon  a  wooden  rim  which  runb 
round  the  bottom  of  the  kettle  where 
previously  the  grates  rested.  Steam 
pipes  may  be  left  as  usual  or  could  be 
made  to  enter  from  the  outside  of  the 
wooden  or  outer  kettle.  Each  individ- 
aal  dyer  has  his  own  ideas  respecting 
the  steam  pipe  arrangement  of  his  ket- 
tles. My  suggestion  is  a  centre  boil 
1  or  1^4  inch  pipe  according  to  the 
size  of  the  kettle.  Where  exhaust 
steam  is  used  have  a  l^^  inch  pipe 
run  from  exhaust  main  pipe,  and  fixed 
just  like  the  line  steam  pipe, — viz., 
run  to  the  centre  of  the  kettle  with  a 
bend  or  elbow  upon  the  same.  These 
two  pipes  being  laid  side  by  side,  one 
or  both  may  be  used  and  still  have  a 
perfect  boil  or  circulation. 

This  inside  kettle  should  come  even 
with  the  top  of  the 

OUTSIDE  WOODEN  KETTLE 

with  a  flange  just  wrapping  over  the 
wooden  kettle.  I  will  leave  the  hoist- 
ing arrangements  to  the  engineer  and 
go  on  to  explain  or  suggest  with  the 
centre  tubes  arranged  in  line  four  or 
more  in  number,  each  the  samei  in 
size  or  in  pairs.  The  'basket  or  in- 
side kettles  could  be  raised  and  low- 
ered into  their  respective  places,  sav- 
ing eonsideralble  ihot  water  or  steam. 
A  mordanted  batch  could  be  lifted  and 
deposited  in  the  coloring  bath  and  oth- 
er lots  mordanited  in  the  same  bath  as 
previous  one  ivlith  a  slightly  reduced 
quantity  of  miordant  that  would  be  re- 
quired for  an  entirely  new  liquor,  thus 
saving  chrome  and  mordant.  The 
same  rule  would  apply  in  the  coloring 


bath,  as  where  the  same  shade  was  go- 
ing to  be  colored  again,  or  a  shade  of 
similar  nature,  as  dyes  that  exhaust 
entirely  may  be  used,  and  without 
doubt  these  (products  are  now  procur- 
able. 

You  might  maike  an  exclamation, 
how  about  washing  off.  Washing  off 
is  not  required.  Where  an  exhaustive 
dye  lis  used  on  wool  rags,  camel's  hair, 
etc.,  where  the  stock  is  short  or  not  of 
a  nature  to  ibe  handled  with  a  fork, 
it  may  be  cooled  off  to  facilitate  its 
being  more  quickly  handled,  in  a  spare 
kettle.  Wools  can  be  handled  with  a 
fork  and  are  much  better  cooled  off 
gradually  giving  better  isatisf action  to 
carders,  especially  if  dyed  by  the  cool 
air  process. 

The  saving  of  hot  water  and  steam 
on  stock  dyeing  machines  is  quite 

ANOTHER  PROBLEM. 

Tanks  may  be  arranged,  but  the 
protabilities  are  mixed  solutions  caus- 
ing more  lo'ss  than  gain. 

The  dyes  and  yarns  have  to  be  cool- 
ed off  gradually;  very  little  can  be 
saved.  On  sulphur  colors,  such  as 
blacks  and  other  dark  shades,  standing 
kettles  are  used  witli  success  when 
run  in  pairs  side  by  side.  No.  1  dyeing 
while  No.  2  is  washing  off,  and  being 
emptied,  the  same  liquor  being  used 
for  each  kettle  pumiping  same,  one 
from  the  other,  and  making  additions 
of  dyes,  etc.,  as  called  for.  This 

SAVES  CONSIDERABDE  LABOR 

of  forking  the  stock  out  and  transfer- 
ring for  washing.  By  having  a  false 
bottom  or  boiling  space  of  isix  to  eight 
inches  in  above  mentioned  kettles  all 
the  liquor  is  pumiped  out,  then  the 
stock  can  he  thoroughly  washed  off  in 
the  same  kettle,  emptied  out  and  is 
once  more  ready  to  receive  liquor  from 
No.  1. 

Sulphur  colors  should  be  dyed  in  a 
kettle  entirely   made  of   wood.  All 
round  wood  kettles  should  rest  solidly 
upon  a  good  sound  concrete  base  and 
if  left  about  33  inches  from  the  floor  to 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


41 


the  kettle  top  will  be  found  to  be  the 
right  height  and  also  a  guard  against 
accidents.  Some  kettles  I  have  come 
across  have  been  set  too  low  and 
should  any  of  the  help  stumble  they 
were  in  danger  of  falling  in.  Also 
they  were  too  low  for  easy  working. 
If  set  too  high  above  the  floor  extra 
labor  is  entailed  in  many  ways. 

NO.  33. 

MANUFACTURE  OF 

UNDERWEAR. 


Under  wear,  as  ordinarily  mianufac- 
tured  in  kniltting  aniiWis,  iis  ftrsit  knlit  on 
circular  macihines  as  a  long  woven 
tube.  This  tube  iis  'automataically 
wound  upon  la  ispooil  underneath  or  on 
top  of  ^the  imadMne  las  fast  as  made. 
The  producit  is  ispoiken  of  in  the  (trade 
as  ''knit  goods  ion  ithe  rolUl."  These 
rolls  are  of  different  widths  (and  vary 
in  weigfhit  all  the  iwiay  up  to  fifty  or 
sixty  ponnds  and  over.  They  form  the 
basis  of  our  natlional  output  of  wooilen 
and  hallf  iwool  underislhirts  and  draw- 
ers. The  wider  roills  are  out  in  isuit- 
ablle  lengths  for  sMnt  bodiies,  tihe  nar- 
rower wldthis  are  isihiaped  for  'sleeves 
and  attadhed,  itlhe  neck  being  sewn 
straight  acroiss  to  the  sihoiulders,  lieav- 
ing  no  opendng  w'hatever  for  the  pres- 
ent. A  ooaiplle  of  long  legs  are  ahorn 
ont  and  seamed  on  to  a  gusset  piece, 
and  pass  for  drawers.  In  this  guise 
the  articles  are  mendea,  bundled  into 
doziens,  and  marked  with  yarns  of  va- 
rious coloris  Ito  denote  thelir  particular 
sityles  and  sizes.  They  are'  next  sent 
to  the  lower  regdons,  wihere  the  scour- 
ers assort  isuch  as  can  be  ihandleid  to- 
gether, and  remoivdng  the  bundle  ties 
and  tickets  they  tumible  them  into  old- 
fashioned  ''kicker"  or  hammer  fulling 
sitookis,  five  or  isiix  dozien  at  a  time,  half 
on  either  side.  In  theise  fulling  mills 
they  are  run  with  soap,  soda,  ana 
warm  water  anywihere  from  twenty 


minutes  to  itwo  hours,  deipending  on 
whether  they  are  all  wool  or  union 
goods.  They  are  then  irinised  in  the 
same  macihines,  and  whizzed,  and  sent 
to  the  drying  room,  where  they  are 
pulled  upon  wooden  formis,  and  placed 
in  a  heated  chamber  until  dry.  Finally 
they  are  again  assembled  in  dozens, 
brushed  or  napped,  and  tied  together, 
and  moved  to  the 

FINISHING  DEPARTMENT. 
Here  they  are  trimmed  to  standard 
pi  o'portionis  and  embelliisihed  with  sat- 
een, tape,  and  buttons,  ready  for  the 
shipping  room.  If  they  are  to  be  col- 
ored— ^scarlet,  for  example  —  as  is 
sometimies  thie  eusitom,  ithey  are  dyed 
after  removall  from  the  fulling  stocks, 
and  before  they  are  hydro  extracted 
and  sent  to  the  drying  rooms.  Such  is 
a  brief  outline  of  ithe  usual  proicedure. 
That  it  is  confessedly  faulty  in  several 
particulars  is,  I  believe,  universally 
admlitted. 

The  goods  require  tO'  be  cut  twice. 
The  first  cutting  is  entirely  unneces- 
sary and  wasiteful.  It  is  'practised  only 
in  order  to  (separate  the  roll  material 
into  workable  pieces.  The  time  and 
skill  expended  upon  this  cutting,  as 
well  as  the  table  room,  are  all  to  be 
placed  to  the  wrong  side  of  thfei  book- 
keeiper's  profit  and  loss  page,  as  I  hope 
to  prove  presenltlly.  Then  the  material 
cut  off  in  the  trimming  is  largely  pre- 
ventable. It  is  surprising  to  remark 
the  wide,  large  pieces  which  are  sihorn 
off  the  bottoms  of  underskirts  alone, 
and  the  tops  of  drawers.  Muc'h  more 
than  half  of  it  might  well  be  saved. 
Our  super  was  jur  '^rumbling  to  me 
a  few  days  ago  that  pieces — double 
thickness — *were  sheared  off  five  or  six 
inches  wide  sometimes. 

This,  in  short,  means  that  much  of 
its  bulk  in  good,  clean,  istrong,  usable 
yarn  onght  ito  be  conserved  for  legiti- 
mate uses  rather  than  sient  to  the 
shoddy  opener.  Besides,  when  goods 
are  cut  in  their  unsecured,  greasy  con- 
dition, it  is  not  always  easy  to  dis- 
tinguislh  between  qiialMties  or  sihades 
which  may  be  closely  akin  in  general 


42 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS  AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


appearance,  and  becauise  of  tills  many 
blunders  come  about  throiUgh  the 
seiwiing  toig either  of  pieces  wMoh  bear 
no  business  relationship  to  each  oither. 
Last  evening  we  isaw  soime  ililustra- 
tioms  of  this.  One  of  the  'scourers 
showed  me  a  pair  of  drawers  with  a 
light  gray  mixture  doing  duty  foT  one 
leg,  and  a  still  lighter  one  for  the  oth- 
er, wliile  the  gusset  was  wliiite.  Sever- 
al  sihirts,  also,  had  ibodies  of  white  and 
sleeves  of  a  very  ligiht  browm  gray  mix- 
ture. The  effect,  of  co'urse,  was  incon- 
gruous, and  unmarketaible.  Had  the 
materiall  first  been  miarked  this  mis- 
take could  no<t  well  have  happened. 
Refleot  upon 

THE  LOSS  INVOLVED 

in  turming  omt  garimentis  of  'this  de- 
scription. There  is  noit  only  the  vail- 
uable  yarn  ito  be  figureid  at  eoisit  O't 
production,  but  likewise  its  quoita  of 
kniitting,  outiting,  and  other  expenseis, 
including  its  washing  (and  poisisibly 
dyeing)  and  drying.  The  iseamers  are 
supipioised  to  be  suppliied  with  the 
pieces  of  garments  requiisite  and  in- 
tended to  go  together  by  the  cutters 
directly,  so  that  the  mixing  of  coanple- 
mentary  iseotions  is  eoimimonly  due  to 
their  failing  to  distinguish  between 
roills  of  fabric  which  may  in  their  un- 
wasihed  stiate  look  alikie  and  may  bear 
faJlse  tickeitis  or  none  at  all.  After  the 
seamens  come  the  miarking  girls,  who 
make  plenty  of  mistakes  in  allowing 
goods  to  x;asis  withonit  the  proper 
markings.  They  are  young  and  gid- 
dy soimetimeis,  poor  things,  but  all  can 
be  entirely  avoided. 

Following  marking  comeis  scouring 
and  fulling.  There's  lots  of  trouble 
there:  No  matter  how  nicely  the 
securer  handleis  them,  those  drawers 
contadniing  thiree  distinct  fabrics,  and 
the  shirts  With  two,  will  be  rietnrned 
to  him  indignantly  from  the  ''fore- 
lady"  of  the  finishing  room  likely  as 
not  miarked  with  the  leper's  tab,  ''Not 
clean,"  land  ihe  will  be  expected  to 
wash  the  legs  and  sleeves  to  corre- 
spond accurately  with  the  white  of  the 


gusset  land  i^hirit  body.  G^reat  coun- 
try this,  isn'it  it?  Rust  spots,  too,  are 
visible  sometimes  in  many  of  the  gar- 
ments, and  ispots  of  black  oil  drop- 
pingis  from  the  machine's  which  fre- 
quently remain  unnoiticed  until  the 
goods  are  isulphured  and  the  stains 
beicome  so  set  upon  them  that  they 
cannot  be  budged. 
Ther  e  lar  e 

OTHER  FAULTS 

connected  with  ithiis  depiartment.  Sup- 
poising  the  oflS-ice  end  Teceives  an  or- 
der for  a  hundred  dozen  of  ojny  par- 
ticular style.  They  are  ^started  all 
right,  and  when  they  come  as  far 
as  the  iscoiurer,  ihe  pnits  them  through 
in  millnfullis  of  five'  or  isix  dozen  apiece. 
That's  all  the  stocks  will  hold  as  a 
rule.  Don't  you  see  that  this  leaves 
roiom  for  a  greater  or  lieiss  variation 
between  all  the  seventeen  to  twenty 
mill  loads,  for  it  is  'hard  to  get  every 
one  just  exactly  alike.  For  each 
of  the  isixty  tO'  seventy  twO'  garments 
in  a  mill-full  to  receive  the  same 
measure  of  turninig,  and  sliding,  and 
punching  is  scarcely  possible.  This, 
naturally,  occasions  irregularity  in 
texture,  in  felting,  in  lengths,  in  widths 
and  in  weight.  Should  there  be  colors 
in  the  gobds,  they  are  often  affected 
in  shade  varionsly.  A  couple  of  other 
things  I  seriously  olbject  to,  abo^ut 
scouring  and  fulling  of  this  order.  See 
the  mess  it  makes.  The  stocks  splash, 
and  spatter  isoap  suds  for  ten  feet, 
all  aboiut,  every  time  they  move.  The 
quantity  of  detergent  scattered  aronnd 
does  absoiutely  nO'  good.  Besides 
keeping  the  floor  wet  and  slippery,  and 
giving  the  men  cramps  and  rlheuma- 
tism,  there  is  consideraDie  of  valua/ble 
soap  and  soda,  and  hot  water  wasted 
for  nothing.  Scouring  underwear,  as 
coimmonly  practised,  is  a  dirty,  sloppy 
unhealthy,  and  wasteful  affair;  and 
whoever  is  acquainted  with  the  work 
will  bear  me  out  in  the  statement. 
See  the  amoiunt  of  felted  flocks  thajt 
comes  off,  and  as  much  more  goes 
down  the  sewer.  But  I'll  go  no  further 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


43 


at  'this  raite.  You'll  think  Fm  a  con- 
firmed groiwler,  only.  I  merely  mention 
these  undesirable  features,  however,  in 
order  to  call  your  attention  io  more 
sensible  methods  of  doing  the  work. 
I  happen  to  have  seen  them  tested. 

INSTEAD  OF  SLASHING  UP 
those  knitted  balls  into  shirt  and  pamts 
]engths,  just  leave  them  as  they  are 
for  a  beginning.  Have  them  all  knit- 
ted ais  nearly  as  poissible  of  equal 
length.  This  will  be  helpfull  right 
through.  Then  mend  them;  and  mark 
with  a  string  all  the  black  oil  spoits, 
and  mark  with  colored  yarns  the  ends 
of  each  roll  piece  to  denominate  the  pait- 
tern,  etc.  Let  ithe  scourer  have  eadh 
qualiity  by  itself,  so  far  as  is  prac- 
ticab:e.  And  to  this  end,  don't  throve 
the  roUis  into  a  big  pile  as  they  are 
knitited,  but  affix  a  ticket  (to  each 
securely,  and  place  tihem  in  slattea 
nackfS  reserved  for  the  various  sorts, 
so  they  oan  be  reached  quickly  and 
with  certainty  when  wanted.  Now  let 
them  first  be  spotted,  then  scoured  in 
a  regular  cloth  washer  suitably  fitted 
up.  Supply  perforated  partitions,  (to 
keep  the  pieces  from  tangling,)  only 
when  necessary.  Yon  can  both  wash 
and  felt  them  in  a  macihine  of  this 
sort  very  satisfactorily.  There  will 
be  no  waste  of  soap  etc.,  and  the 
floor  can  be  kept  dry  and  'tidy.  More 
than  half  of  the  handling  will  be  over- 
come, arid  the  fabrics  receive  an  even 
and  regular  treatment  withont  un- 
justifiaible  loiss  from  loose  flocks  com- 
ing off,  and  large  and  frequent  re- 
newals of  soap  and  rinsing  waters. 
The  saving  in  these  two  items  alone 
will  serve  to  pay  tlie  first  cost  of 
your  cloth  washer  In  a  brief  time. 
The  felting  oif  the  weibs  is  under  peT- 
fect  control,  and  where  it  can  be  look- 
ed into  con'stantly  without  getting 
oneself  all  wet.  In  fact,  the  rolls, 
if  made  alike,  and  scoured  toigetlher, 
are  bound  to  come  out  alike,  and  with 
a  great  improivement  in  appearance. 
On  colored  goods  the  effect  will  be 
brighter  and  more  pleasing,  and  where 


the  rolls  are  afterwards  to  be  dyed 
in  solid  colors  they  are  in  the  best 
possible  sliape  for  the  dyer.  The 
floor  being  clean,  there  is  no  danger 
from  goods  dropping  accidentally  and 
contracting  dirt.  The  mixing  of  sizes 
and  qualities  is  wiped  out,  and  many 
faults  and  blemishes  go  by  the  boiard- 
Should  ithe  fabrics  require 
BLEACHING, 

they  are  in  the  best  form  for  it.  By 
the  peroxide  of  hydrogen  treatment 
they  will  be  handled  in  endless  chains, 
as  in  scoring,  and  dyeing.  By  the  sul- 
phur treatment  they  may  be  looped 
upon  poles  in  the  bleach  house  as 
flannels  sometimes  are. 

When  it  comes  to  drying  them,  a 
macihine  is  employed  in  which  the 
tubular  goods  are  passed  over  a  sleeve 
through  w'hicih  heated  air  is  forced, 
and  they  are  ispeedily  dried.  At  the 
same  time  they  are  stretched  to  the 
requisite  width  all  over  the  whole 
length  with  the  utmost  regularity. 

We  have  no  underwear  yet.  Tlie 
roll  fabrics  now  pass  forward  to  the 
cutting  tables.  They  have  returned 
in  'rolls  as  they  went  out,  but  are  now 
sweet,  and  soft  and  clean.  It  is 
pleasant  work  now  for  all  to  handle 
them.  Every  shade  and  pattern  is 
distinct,  and  no  excuse  remains  for 
making  up  whites  and  greys  together 
in  a  single  garment.  The  cutters 
have  their  standard  gauges  and  pat- 
terns, and  unwind,  and  cut  the  rolls 
foir  whatever  is  called  for.  This  is 
the  one  and  sole  cutting  they  receive. 
There  is  no  (subsequent  trimming 
wheire  a  bad  hole  occurs,  which  has 
not  been  considered  worth  mending, 
or  an  occasional  ugly  looked  iron  ana 
oil  spot  that  has  refused  to  lend  it- 
self to  spotting  and  scouring,  it  is 
cut  out,  and  is  never  permitted  to  go 
into  a  garment.  "Forms"  are  made 
out  of  fragments  where  these  are  lo- 
cated, and  from  the  usual  remniants. 
No  occasion,  however,  is  permitted  ^'^^ 
fo'rms  of  a  wrong  color  or  quality  !n 


44 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


the  backs  of  shirt  necks,  or  in  the 
seats  of  drawers. 

But,  you  say,  you  wish  to  make  up 
your  underwear 

PROM   THE   OTHER  SIDE 

of  the  fabric.  Some  folks  do.  One 
mill  in  our  town  does,  wihile  another 
does  not.  You  may  turn  them  as 
soon  as  they  are  iseamed  if  you  wish. 
Tn  any  case,  you  don'it  require  to  pay 
for  iturning  them  'twice,  as  some  mills 
do.  Afterwards,  'the  customary  press- 
ing- will  smeoith  o^ut  sd\  ithe  seams. 
Affixing  itrimmings  and  buititoms  Is 
done  in  the  ordinary  way. 

A  word  as  to  -the  'ssample's.  There 
is  no  quicker  and  surer  system  for 
getting  these  out  than  that  I  suggetst. 
Cut  them  from  the  cleiamsed  roll.  Try 
it  and  see  for  yourself.  If  the  proper 
material  is  not  in  stock,  make  a  small 
roll  of  sucih  as  you  deisire,  and  scour 
and  fuil  it  with  one  of  the  regular 
lots  going  through,  ithen  have  it  made 
up  to  suit  you.  In  this  way  you  have 
it  quickly,  easily,  reliably,  and  there 
is  no  bother  afterwards  to  make 
goods  to  correspond  with  t!he  samples. 

Outer,  or  *'Toip"  shirts,  sailor  suits 
for  boys,  and  toques  are  all  made  the 
same  way.  This  lis  ithe  plan  par  ex- 
cellence. 

There  now.  By,  by.  Don't  yon 
think  I've  made  out  my  case?  I  fancy 
I  have.  NO.  34. 

MIXING  AND  WORKING 
COTTON. 


There  is  a  good  deal  to  be  said  as 
to  the  mixing  of  the  different  kinds 
of  cotton,  in  order  to  get  good  results 
in  the  yarns  and  afterwards  in  the 
cloth,  and  in  knowing  the  different 
characteristics  of  the  cotton.  There 
are  cottons,  as  most  textile  workers 
know,  of  different  lengths  of  staple. 


There  are  also  cottons  of  harsh,  rongh, 
and  smooth  staples,  cotton  that  easi]y 
takes  dyes,  and  cotton  that  will  noi 
take  dyes  so  easily.  There  are  Indian 
cottons  as  shout  in  staple  as  sixty-five 
one  hundredths  of  an  inch,  and  of  a 
coarse  nature.  We  have  also,  cotton 
called  Sea  Island,  that  measures  as 
long  as  two  and  one -fifth  inches,  and  is 
noted  for  its  extreme  length  and  fine- 
ness of  staple,  especially  that  which 
is  grown  on  Edisto  Island.  It  is  chief- 
ly used  to  mix  w^ith  silk,  and  is  spun 
into  very  fine  numbers,  from  200s  up- 
wards. Next  in  order  lower  is  Egyptian 
cotton,  which  ranks  next  to  Sea  Island 
in  length  and  fineness  of  staple,  also 
in  silkiness  of  feel,  but  it  has  not  the 
same  bright  color  as  the  Sea  Island 
cotton.  There  are  two  classes  of  Egyp- 
tian cotton,  the  brown  and  the  white, 
the  brown  being  by  far  the  greatest 
in  quantity.  The  chief  characteristics 
of  Egyptian  cotton  are  the  length, 
strength,  and  uniformity  of  the  fibres. 
Gallini  is  the  best  or  highest  quality 
of  cotton  grown  in  Egypt,  and  is  from 
Sea  Island  seed.  Grallini  cotton  varies 
in  length  of  staple  from  one  inch  and 
four-tenths  to  one  inch  and  six-tenths, 
in  length  of  staple  its  mean  length 
being  one  inch  and  one-half.  White 
Egyptian  is  of  a  shorter  staple,  run- 
ning on  the  average  about  one  inch 
and  one-quarter.  We  have  also  cot- 
tons named 

SURINAMS  AND  PERUVIANS, 

both  Sonth  American  cottons.  The 
former  are  best  adapted  to  mixing 
with  wool,  and  the  latter,  whidh  is  a 
smooth  cotton,  can  be  used  to  spin 
40s  to  60s  filling.  The  first  kind  is  of 
a  rough  nature,  but  it  is  a  wrong  idea 
to  mix  rough  and  smooth  together,  and 
also  to  mix  variable  lengths  together, 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


4S 


as  it  is  im^poissible  to  get  am  even 
roiund  thread  from  such  a  mixing. 

With  regard  to  taking  of  dye 
by  different  ootitons,  cotton  that  has 
been  harvested  before  it  is  fully  ripe 
will  not  itake  dye  so  well,  and  is 
weaker  than  ripe  cotton.  Cotton  if 
o.nly  half  ripe  has  the  fibres  all  fiat 
and  ribbon  shape  and  will  not  take 
certain  dyes,  hence  there  are  goods 
that  coiuld  not  be  made  from  cotton 
of  this  kind,  to  compete  with  goods 
made  from  cotton  that  is  fully  ripe. 
x'\jno'their  reason  is  that  ripe  cotton  isub- 
mits  readily  to  the  bleaching  process 
and  lastly  in  unripe  cotton  the  shell 
clings  more  to  the  fibre  than  in  ripe 
cotton,  and  has  consequently  to  be 
more  roughly  ginned,  causing  it  to 
become  weaker.  With  iregard  to  the 
drawing  and  spinning  of 

THE  DIFFERENT  CLASSES 
of  cotton,  you  have  got  to  ad- 
just your  rollers  to  the  length  of  staple 
you  are  supposed  to  be  working.  If 
you  aire  isupposed  to  be  spinning  a 
class  of  cotton  of  one  and  one-sixteenith 
inch  length  of  staple,  you,  of  course, 
set  your '  rollers  from  one  inch  and 
one-eighth  to  one  inch  and  three-six- 
teenthis.  If  in  this  stock  you  happen  to 
have  some  mixed  in  an  inch  and  one- 
quarter  in  length,  you  are  going  to 
have  trouble  in  the  drawing  of  the 
fibre.  The  long  stock  being  gripped  be- 
tween the  front  and  middle  rollers  at 
the  same  time  will  not  allow  it  to  be 
drawn,  and  if  you  happen  to  have  stock 
among  the  same  that  is  considerablv 
shorter  than  one  inch,  yon  will  have 
weak  and  kinky  yarn.  So  it  is  essen- 
tial that  the  mixing  should  be  as  equal 
as  it  is  possible  to  have  it  in  regard 
to  length  of  staple,  to  make  a  fairly 
good  thread.  Then  again,  there  is  an- 
other cause  for  having  poor  and  kinky 
yarn,  and  that  is,  having  the  rollers 
too  far  apart  for  the  length  of  (stock 
In  spinning,  you  will  be  miade  aware 
of  it  by  having  a  good  many  middle 
roller  laps  to  pull  off.  If  you  exiamine 
sound  cotton  that  has  gone  throngh 
many  stretching  openaitlonis,  yon  will 


find  that  the  ends  of  the  fibres  are 
jagged  (and  torn.   There  are 

ONLY  TWO  PLACES 
wihere  yon  can  materially  injure  the 
staple  as  it  is  passing  through  the 
machinery;  one  is  over  iscutching  it 
in  the  picker  room,  the  other  is  hav- 
ing your  drafts  itoo  large.  If  your 
drafts  are  large,  you  require  more 
weigtht  on  your  rollers,  and  that  of 
itself  is  an  injury  to  the  staple,  for  if 
you  pasis  the  cotton  thirough  an  or- 
dinary pair  of  draw  frame  rollers 
very  heavily  weighted,  the  result  Is 
that  the  flutes  of  ithe  bottom  roller^s 
press  into  the  leather  of  the  top  rol- 
lers and  carry  the  fibres  with  them. 
The  result  again  is  that  thei  cotton 
comes  out  as  if  it  ihad  gone  through 
a  crimping  miacihine,  and  w^hen  iseen 
through  the  microscope,  the  surfaces 
are  found  to  be  fractured.  Another 
result  w^hich  comes  from  long  and 
short  staples  being  worked  togethei 
is  crackers  in  the  yarn.  Hard  cotton 
makes  weaker  yarn  than  isioflt  cotton, 
because  soft  cotton  will  yield  ito  the 
twist  better  and  imore  fibres  get  twist- 
ed in  ithe  yarn,  wihile  the  ihard  cotton 
is  stub  born  and  does  not  yield  .s,>  well 
to  ithe  twist;  hence,  much  of  the  fbrt 
is  left  outside  of  the  yarn  giving  t  a 
rough  appearance.  Cloth  made  fr^m 
such  yarn  has  the  same  appear  an  c 
and  is  not  so  strong.  Thie  tube  walls 
of  cotton  fibre  are  prepared  to  some 
extent  with  a  peculiar  waxy  oil.  The 
degree  of  this  oil  containied  in  the 
seed  and  fibre  varies  with  the  seasons, 
and  with  the  degree  of  ripeness  of 
the  boll.  The  presence  of  the  oil 
in  the  fibre  and  in  the'  cells  is  proba- 
bly one  of  the  causes  why  an  elevated 
temperature,  especially  for  fine  spin- 
ning, is  necessary  in  the  manufacture 
of  cotton  into  yarn.  As  the  tempera- 
ture falls,  the  oily  wax  tends  to  be- 
come stiff  and  gumimy  and  prevents  the 
proper  drawing  of  the  fibre,  while  its 
presence  among  the  thin  laminations 
of  the  ioell  wallls,  gives  a  greater 
elasticity  to  the  fibre  and  renders  it 
less  liable  to  sudden  rupture.  No.  35. 


46 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


IMPROPER  BOILING. 


Improper  boiling  is  very  often  the 
cause  of  unevennesis  in  the  color  of  a 
fabric,  and  too  much  attentiion  can- 
not be  paid  to  thiis  detail,  which  al- 
though of  minor  importance  still  should 
be  looked  after  with  the  greatest  of 
care. 

Very  often  the  man  in  charge  of  a 
kettle  is  careleiss,  and  starting  the 
steam,  turns  his  attention  to  some 
oither  matter.  On  returning  to  his 
kettle  in  about  half  an  hour,  he  finds 
that  the  temperature  of  the  dye  liquor 
has  been  raised  to  190  or  200  degrees, 
in  fact,  almost  to  the  boiling  point. 
As  a  result  the  color  will  jump  on 
unevenly,  and  continued  after-boiling, 
should  the  fact  of  the  too  sudden 
rise  in  temperature  be  discovered, 
which  is  seldom,  will  not  force  the 
coloT  on  the  cloth  more  evenly. 

Then  again  many  men  do  not  know 
when  their  kettle  has  ^started  to  boil. 
This  is  especially  true  with  iso-called 
"green"  help.  I  have  known  men  to 
mark  their  kettle  as  boiling  when  the 
temperature  really  was  not  much  above 
200  degrees  Fahrenheit. 

Of  ten  time  un  evenness  will  arise  from 
TOO  STRONG  A  BOILING, 
and  if  not  uneven  the  color  will  be 
dull,  much  duller  than  if  the  kettle 
had  been  kept  at  a  low,  quiet  boil. 

As  a  summary  in  boiling  up  piece 
goods,  the  help  should  be  taught  to 
bring  their  kettles  up  to  a  slow  grad- 
ual boil  in  the  time  allotted  for  this 
purpose,  and  after  the  boiling  temper- 
ature had  been  reached,  to  keep  their 
kettle  at  a  gentle  simmering  boll. 
They  should  not  only  be  taught  to  do 
this,  but  should  be  ibr ought  to  realize 
the  importance  of  it. 

Then,  after  a  dyeing  nas  been  com- 
pleted, 

THE  QUESTION  OP  WASHING 
should  be  considered. 
In  many  instances,  after  the  shade 


has  been  matched  and  the  dyeing  pro- 
nounced finished,  a  stream  of  cold 
H20  is  opened  into  the  kettle  and  in 
many  cases  allowed  to  play  on  the  hot 
cloth.  This  should  always  be  avoided 
as  much  as  possible  as  the  cold  water 
striking  the  hot  pieces  (has  a  very 
stroing  tendency  to  give  the  goods  a 
harish  and  unkind  feel,  which  is  easily 
avoided  by  gradual  cooling. 

In  a  prominent  worsted  mill  in 
Rhode  Island  a  device  for  uniform 
boiling  has  been  tried  with  much  suc- 
cess. In  addition  to  the  regular  boil- 
ing apparatus  installed  in  the  kettle, 
there  Is  a  brass  pipe  in  the  kettle 
which  swings  like  a  pendulum,  contin- 
ually back  and  forth  from  one  end 
of  the  kettle  to  the  other.  There  is 
a  small  brass  pipe  joined  to  the  end 
of  the  long  one  forming  a  sort  of  T. 

THIS  SMALL  PIPE 
is  pierced  with  holes  through  which 
the  steam  obtains  admittance  into  the 
kettle.  The  whole  ming  is  worked 
very  simply,  the  swing  of  the  pendr 
lum-like  pipe  being  controlled  by  a  rod 
and  small  gear  connected  with  the 
shaft  running  the  kettle.  The  gear 
has  a  sliding  arrangement  in  which 
the  rod  connecting  the  pipe  can  be  so 
fixed  as  to  control  the  length  of  the 
arc  that  the  pendulum  travels.  This 
arrangement  has  been  use  with  great 
success,  and  the  mill  before  mention- 
ed is  putting  a  blue  worsted  on  the 
market  at  present  which  will  soon 
become  a  standby  among  the  trade 
for  uniformity,  levelness  and  bright- 
ness of  shade.  No.  36. 

IMITATION  LEATHER. 


A  very  good  imitation  of  leather  can 
be  obtained  by  treating  cotton  cloth 
with  wood  pulp,  and  the  process  is  a 
veiy  simple  one,  an  ordinary  single 
roll  printing  machine  being  used  for 
the  purpose  The  wood  pulp  is  ob- 
tained by  dissolving  a  paper  made 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


47 


wood  pulp,  with  caustic  soda  and 
carbon  bisulphide,  and  working  the 
mixture  up  into  a  pasty  consistency, 
so  that  it  can  be  printed  on  the  cloth. 

The  cotton  cloth  is  then  introduced 
between  the  rolls  and  the  wood  pulp 
paste  Is  printed  on  the  race  of  the 
goods  as  in  an  ordinary  printing  ma- 
chine. The  cloth  is  then  passed  over 
drying  cams,  the  back  of  the  cloth 
ooming  into  contact  with  the  cams. 

AFTER  DRYING 
another  layer  of  wood  pulp  may  be 
applied  in  exactly  the  tsame  manner 
as  before,  the  cloth  being  again  dried. 
In  this  manner  any  thickness  desired 
may  be  obtained  by  repeatedly  passing 
the  cloth  through  the  padding  paste. 
After  this  padding  has  heen  finished 
the  cilo'th  is  a  yeillowish  brown  in 
color  and  is  ready  for  dyeing. 

An  interesting  feature  now  is  the 
fact  that  the  cloth,  being  padded  wiith 
the  wood  pulp  has  la  greater  afflnity 
for  the  dyestuff  than  if  it  were  cotton 
alone.  The  cloth  may  be  dyed  any 
shade  desired  in  an  ordinary  jig  dye- 
ing machine.  The  cloth  being  dyed, 
it  is  dried  by  passing  over  the  cams, 
the  back  of  the  cloth  being  in  contact 
with  ithe  cams  as  before,  for  if  the 
face  of  the  goods  upon  which  the  paste 
has  been  printed  were  to  come  into 
contact  with  the  cams,  there  would 
be  a  strong  tendency  to  stick. 

After  the  dyeing  has  been  completed 
the  cloth  is  put  through  the  calender 
wnere  the 

IMITATION  LEATHER  EFFECT 
is  produced. 

The  cloth  is  perfe'Ctly  water  proof 
and  if  a  white  or  cream  color  is  desir- 
ed. It  will  stand  up  to  the  most  thor- 
ough bleaching  without  affecting  the 
water  proof  quality  of  the  fabric  in 
the  least.  It  is  also  very  fast  to  light. 
This  same  paste  may  be  used  in  con- 
nection with  ordinary  paper,  the  meth- 
od being  practically  the  same  as  the 
treatment  of  the  cotton  cloth.  After 
printing  the  paste  on  the  paper,  the 
paper  becomes  much  stronger  and  may 


be  dyed  on  a  jig  dyeing  machine,  as 
would  oirdinary  cotton  cloth,  as  the 
boiling  dye  liquor  will  not  affect  the 
paper  so  treated  with  this  paste  in 
the  least.  After  the  paper  has  been 
dyed  it  may  be  calendered  and  also 
embOfSised,  in  this  manner  many  com- 
binations being  obtained.  Or  the 
color  may  be  discharged  and  then  the 
cloth  calendered  and  embossed.  In 
this  manner  it  can  readily  be  seen, 
that  any  combination  of  colors  ox 
designis  may  be  produced,  the  number 
being  unilimited. 

The  paper,  all  these  operations  be- 
ing finished,  is  wateir  proof,  fast  to 
bleeding,  and  ordinarily  fast  to  light. 
Should  it  become  dirty  at  any  time 
it  may  be  scruhbed  with  a  wet  rag, 
without  affecting  the  design  in  the 
least.  No.  37. 

 -4--*^  

HOW  ABOUT  IT  ? 


The  process  of  drawing  is  in  many 
respects  the  most  important  one  in 
the  production  of  good  cotton  yarn. 
It  is  the  last  process  in  which  the  in- 
equalities of  sliver  can  be  appreciably 
corrected.  The  modern  draw  frame  is 
a  marvel  of  simplicity  and  efficiency. 
Is  this  efficiency  enhanced,  or  is  it 
impaired  by  the  introduction  of  a  line 
of  evener  heads  in  place  of  a  first  line 
of  draw  frames?  The  evener  head  is 
an  improved  type  of  railway  head,  and 
is  largely  in  use.  It  must  then  possess 
some  merits,  but  are  not  those  merits 
completely  overshadowed  by  its  de- 
fects, which  are  entirely  absent  in  the 
drawing  frame?  In  my  opinion  an 
evener  yarn  would  result  if  these  even- 
er heads  were  supplanted  by  a  line  of 
draw  frames.  The  construction  and 
position  of  the  instrument  of  evening, 
the  trumpet  is,  without  doubt,  entirely 
wrong.  The  trumpet  cannot  very  well 
be  placed  elsewhere,  and  remain  a 
trumpet,  therefore  that   principle  of 


48 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


evening  is  entirely  wrong.  The  trum- 
pet cannot  be  constructed  of  a  suit- 
able material,  that  will  remain  unaf- 
fected by  climatic  conditions,  for  no 
such  a  material  is  available,  though 
it  might  possibly  be  in  the  future; 
but  we  are  living  in  the  present  time, 
not  ithe  future. 

I  have  seen  the  sliver  underweigh  5 
grains  to  the  yard  or  more,  on  a  frosty 
morning,  and,  sad  to  state,  it  is  the 
rule,  not  the  exception.  If  all  of  the 
head  were  not  effected  it  would  not 
be  so  ibad,  but  they  all  lare,  and  must 
be.   There  is  much 

SHIFTING  OF  WEIGHTS 

before  the  weight  is  anywhere  near 
normal,  but  the  light  work  is  going 
through  all  the  time.  After  the  room 
is  warmed  up,  Uhe  weigihts,  as  likely 
as  not,  will  have  to  be  shifted  back 
once  more.  Some  people  will  not  shift 
the  weights  at  all  until  two  hours,  at 
least,  afteir  sitantimg  up  foir  this  reason. 
This  defect  is  totally  absent  in  the 
draw  frame,  and  is  caused  wholly  on 
the  evener  head  by  the  expanding  of 
material  and  contraction  of  the  hole 
forming  the  trumpet.  Naturally  the 
evener  motion  acted  as  if  an  extra 
bulky  portion  of  sliver  were  passing 
through  ithe  trumpet.  This  is  a  very 
bad  defect,  and  I  think  it  overshadows 
by  fiar  any  merits  the  machine  may 
have.  It  is  a  very  well  known  fact 
that  the  evener  motion  starts  even- 
ing too  late  owing  to  the  position  of 
the  trumpet,  ibut  this  is  not  so  serious. 

Some  people  argue  that  the  evener 
head  is  great 

ON  CARD  SINGLES. 

My  argument  is,  if  card  singles  are 
conspicuous  enough  in  their  presence 
to  require  evener  heads,  new  pickers 
are  in  line,  or  a  new  man  to  regulate, 
and  take  care  of  them.  The  powers 
of  the  draw  frame  to  correct  card  sin- 
gle, and  other  inequalities  are  greatly 
underrated  by  any  one  advancing  that 
argument.  Just  to  illustrate  the  effi- 
ciency of  th-e  draw  fram-e  to  correct 


card  singles,  and  eliminate  other  in- 
equalities, I  will  give  a  very  rude 
examiple,  with  an  extremely  light  card 
single,  a  nearly  imipossible  single. 
The  normal  weight  of  the  card  sliver 
is  50  grains  to  the  yard.  Each  draw 
frame  has  6  ends  up  'with  a  draft  of 
6,  and  producing  50  grain  slivers.  This 
practically  impossible  card  single  will 
weigh  25  grains  to  the  yard,  and  will 
be  fed  to  the  first  line  of  drawing  with 
5  normal  slivers.  The  weight  at  the 
first  drawing  will  be 

25+ (5x50) 

 =45.8  gr. 

G 

At  the  2d  with  average  slivers. 
45.8+(5x5#) 

 =  49.3  gr. 

At  the  3d,  with  same. 

49. 3+ (5x51) 

 =  49.88  gr. 

6 

There  would  only  be  a  discrepancy 
of  12  grains  from  the  normal  at  the 
finish  of  the  third  drawing,  with  a 
card  sliver  of  only  half  its  normal 
weiight.  This  is  not  a  theoretical  ex- 
ample, ibut  a  very  practical  one,  though 
rather  rude.  If  (my  side  its  wronig,  Is 
the  remedy  to  be  a  machine  affected 
by  climatic  changes,  and  unreliability, 
or  Ifs  plain  draw  fralme  of  tsuffioienft 
efficiency?  No.  38. 


LIGHTING  A  MILL. 


I  wish  to  make  a  isuggestion.  Now 
you  take  a  mill  that  ihas  poor  light. 
It  will  give  you  all  the  bad  weaving 
you  want.  You  take  a  mill  that  has 
a  light  every  isix  looms  and  you 
can't  help  making  bad  cloth,  because 
from  four  o'clock  to  six  o'clock  if  you 
weave  in  the  dark  it  is  a  waste  for 
the  company.  A  weaving  room  ought 
to  have  one  light  a  loom.  It  will 
pay  a  company  to  do  this.  It  is  not 
only  in  cotton  that  you  find  defects 
but  in  the  cloth.  I  have  had  experi- 
ence of  this  myself,  No,  39. 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


49 


PERFECTION  IN  COTTON 
SPINNING. 


The  cotton  manufacturer  of  to-day 
mu&t  necessarily  get  the  defects  of  his 
yarn  out  of  the  way  and  gain  perfec- 
tion of  quality  if  he  wishes  to  succeed 
in  his  line  of  business  and  create  a 
demand  for  his  product.  We  will  look 
more  fully  into  the  processes  of  manu- 
facturing perfect  cotton  yarns. 

In  the  first  place  wisdom  should  he 
used  in  purchasing  cotton  suitable  for 
the  yarn  desired.  It  is  a  sad  mistake 
for  one  to  try  to  make  perfect  yarn 
from  long  and  sihort  sitapile  coitton,  as 
we  have  long  since  learned  that  they 
will  not  harmonize  in  an  even  diame- 
ter of  the  thread.  Let  the  staple  be 
as  near  one  length  as  possible,  and 
have  the  ibales  oipened  up  and  mixed 
in  a  large  bin  ait  least  two  days  be- 
fore starting  the  cotton  through  the 
machines  in  order  that  the  fibres  may 
assume  their  natural  form.  Very  often 
we  make  a  great  mistake  by  putting 
unskilled  help  in  the  picker  room  as 
here  we  lay  the  foundation  of  what 
will  eventually  be  our  finished  product, 
and  every  care  should  be  taken  to 
start  right. 

THE  HOPPER 
should  always  be  kept  about  two-thirds 
full  and  the  lap  feed  in  on  the  inter- 
mediate, being  careful  not  to  allow 
any  bad  piecing  that  the  evener  can- 
not take  up.  Also  on  the  finisher 
great  care  should  be  taken  not  to  al- 
low any  lap  to  leave  the  machine  that 
■does  not  weigh  right.  Here  it  is  im- 
portant to  have  a  good  honest  man 
at  work.  If  pickers  are  thoroughly  ad- 
justed and  kept  up  to  the  standard 
the  finished  lap  should  be  of  first  qual- 
ity. The  card  has  a  very  important 
mission  to  perform.  Think  of  what 
a  card  has  to  do,  and  it  is  so  often 
wholly  neglected  by  the  one  in  charge. 
Every  little  deitail  should  be  wajtched, 


as  it  is  the  little  things  that  make  the 
defects.  I  will  not  give  any  settings 
here  as  every  practical  man  thinks 
he  has  the  best. 

We  noiw  go  to  the  drawing  frame, 
where  we  find  a  num'ber  of  card  sliv- 
ers running  into  one.  We  presume 
that  so  far  in  the  process  we  have  ob- 
tained perfection.  And  here  are  more 
of  those  little  things,  such  as  draft 
not  properly  divided,  or  too  much 
draft,  or  rolls  not  spread  to  suit  the 
staple,  or  calender  rolls  stretching 
sliver  not  weighted  correctly,  or  rolls 
not  oiled  regularly.  Any  of  these  little 
things  can  spoil  all  of  our  previous 
efforts. 

But  we  will  assume  that  all  of  these 
things  have  been  looked  after  and  we 
still  have  a  perfect  sliver  and  we  take 
it  to  the  sluibber  in  good  condition 
ready  for  the  first  twist  which  should 
be  as  little  as  possible,  and  as  light 
draft  as  you  can  do  with,  rolls  speeded 
to  suit  the  length  of  staple,  always  hav- 
ing the  rolls  weighted  properly,  ten- 
sion and  lay  just  right.  The  same 
precaution  should  be  taken  with  in- 
termediates and  roving  and  jack  fram- 
es. There  are  many  thjlngis  that  put 
defects  in  yarn  at  these  three  ma- 
chines and  if  we  do  not  move  care- 
fully we  will  loise  our  perfection  be- 
fore the  product  reaches  the  spinning 
frame.    Very  often 

THE  SPINNING  FRAME 

gets  credit  for  defects  that  are  made 
way  back  in  the  process  l)ut  not  seen 
until  it  is  reduced  to  a  very  tiny 
thread.  But  we  presume  the  roving 
is  sent  to  this  department  perfect  and 
we  do  not  want  to  spoil  it  here,  after 
incurring  the  expense  of  the  entire 
mill  up  to  this  point.  As  this  is  the 
finishing  process  we  will  examine  our 
frames  and  see  if  the  draft  is  not  ex- 
cessive and  if  the  rolls  are  set  one- 
sixteenth  of  an  inch  wider  than  the 
length  of  the  staple,  if  there  is  not 
too  much  weight  on  the  rolls,  and 
every  roil  weighted  alike.  All  rolls 
that   have   defects   should  be  taken 


50 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


out  at  once.  The  spindles  should  be 
true,  the  rings  set  correctly,  the 
thread  guide  straight  with  the  spindle, 
the  bands  looked  over  very  often  and 
not  one  allowed  ito  remain  that  shows 
the  leasit  bit  slack,  the  travellers 
working  smoothly  the  bobbins  fitting 
the  spindles,  everything  working  as  it 
should. 

Let  me  say  right  here  that  the  im- 
proved machinery  for  the  manufactur- 
ing of  cotton  yarn  is  ample  if  properly 
set  and  cared  for.  Perhaps  the  great- 
est trouble  we  have  to-day  is  to  have 
it  o'peraited  right.  Cleanliness  from  be- 
ginning to  the  end  must  be  maintained 
if  we  wish  good  results.  Also  we  see 
the  many  piecings,  thousands  of  them 
every  day,  that,  if  made  perfectly, 
would  not  make  those  heavy  and  light 
places  that  we  see  all  through  the 
pro'oess  whicih  should  not  be  there  and 
to  o'btaln  a  perfect  yarn  we  must  get 
rid  of  them. 

T  take  it  that  aJll  who  are  interested 
in  these  articles  know  something  of 
the  textile  business,  therefore,  I  Chave 
refrained  from  dealing  with  fixed  rules 
and  settings  for  the  different  machines 
in  the  processes.  Every  builder  of 
textile  machinery  has  for  his  motto 
perfection  of  the  output  of  that  ma- 
chine, and  if  tihe  proper  material  is 
put  in  at  the  beginning  and  every 
part  of  the  mill  harmonized  to  suli 
the  class  of  yarns  desired,  a  perfect 
thread  should  be  obtained.     No.  40. 

WASTE  SAVING. 


I  have  a  suggestion  to  offer  which 
has  long  been  a  source  of  much 
thought  to  me.  It  is  a  saver  of  time 
and  material  and  would  be  a  boon  to 
the  men  who  operate  the  machines.  I 
am  speaking  of  an  automatic  flock-box 
for  fulling  mills  for  heavily  flocked 
goods  and  especially  does  it  apply  to 
goods  of  low  grade,  such  as  cotton 
warps  and  shoddy  filling  or  union  cas- 


simeres.  Men  who  are  accusitomed  to 
this  class  of  work  know  how  hard  it 
is  to  get  the  goods  to  take  up  the 
amount  of  flocks  required  to  bring 
them  up  to  desired  weight  when  fin- 
ished. 

The  class  of  goods  is  generally 
flocked  after  they  have  run  perhaps 
an  hour  in  the  mills.  The  felting  has 
begun  and  the  lattice  work  of  the 
fabric  is  partially  closed.  For  exam- 
ple, we  will  say  the  fuller  has  to  make 
up  two  ounces  of  weight  to  the  yard 
on  a  piece  of  cotton  warp  thibet.  He 
may  be  able  to  do  it  by  using  four 
ounces  of  flocks  per  yard  if  the  flocks 
are  good  and  the  goods  have  not  shrunk 
or  felted  too  much.  Otherwise  it  may 
take  six  or  seven  ounces  of  flocks  to 
do  it.  This  all  depends  on  the  grade 
of  flocks  and  the  condition  of  the  goods 
at  the  time  the  flocks  are  applied  to 
the  cloth  and  hence  the  reason  of  so 
much  waste  flocks,  more  than  half  fall 
to  the  bottom  of  the  mill  and  after  the 
goods  drag  over  them  a  few  times  they 
roll  into  pill  form.  After  that  the 
goods  will  not  absorb  them,  so  they 
are  waste  flocks  which  we  either  throw 
away  or  wash  out  dry  and  grind  over 
with  other  stock  mixed  in. 

If  an  automatic  box  was  put  on, 
something  that  would  open  and  shut 
alternately  in  this  way — the  box  opens 
for  30  seconds  and  dusts  on  a  small 
quantity  of  flocks  then  closes  again 
for  one  or  two  minutes  and  repeats 
the  operation  until  all  the  flocks  have 
been  dropped — there  would  be  practi- 
cally no  was/te. 

THE  SAVING  IN  FLOCKS 
would  ibe  enormous,  besides  doing 
away  with  washing  and  grinding  over. 
The  flocks  would  be  sifted  on  the 
goods  so  flnely  and  so  little  at  each 
time  the  box  opened  that  it  would 
be  all  absorbed  before  the  box  opened 
again.  There  is  a  chance  for  some 
inventive  mind  to  think  up  something 
that  would  do  the  work.  My  idea 
would  be  to  make  a  box  to  fit  on  the 
back  of  the  mill  over  the  cloth;  make 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


51 


the  box  wide  at  the  top  and  tapering 
down  to  a  narrow  opening  at  the  hot 
torn  and  have  a  stiff  brush  on  the  out- 
side of  the  box  close  to  the  opening. 
When  the  brush  is  not  in  motion  it 
would  form  the  bottom  of  the  box; 
when  working  the  brush  would  re- 
volve, throwing  the  flocks  sprinkler 
fashion  on  the  cloth;  but  what  is  need- 
ed here  is  knowledge  how  to  time  the 
opening  and  closing  of  the  box. 

With  this  device  all  the  fuller  would 
have  to  do  would  be  to  throw  the 
flocks  into  the  box  and  let  the  box  take 
care  of  them.  As  it  is  now  he  throws 
most  of  the  flocks  into  the  mills  and 
the  cloth  wafts  it  back  into  his  face 
so  that  he  has  to  swallow  a  little  him- 
self. An  excessive  amount  of  flocks 
in  the  mills  not  only  interferes  with 
the  felting  but  also  dulls  the  natural 
lusitre  of  the  flbre  and  again  the  fuller 
on  this  case  of  goods  has  to  guess  a 
good  deal  at  the  wei-ght.  If  he  thinks 
the  goods  are  not  heavy  enough  he 
puts  on  more  flocks  until  he  thinks 
they  are  about  right.  Now  with  a  box 
working  perfectly  after  a  trial  set  of 
goods  the  fuller  could  put  so  many 
ounces  of  flocks  per  yard  into  the 
box  and  depend  on  getting  the  desired 
weight  every  time.  •  No.  41. 


SPECKS  IN  FINISHING 
ROOM. 


The  above  has  been  tlie  trouble 
ever  s'.nce  carding  was  invented.  1 
find  in  making  light  and  dark  mixes 
that  the  light  mixes  are  freest  of 
specks  and  why?  There  are  certain 
stocks  with  a  sediment  in  them  that 
the  scoiuring  machine  does  not  thor- 
oughly reach  and  the  dyeing  process 
reaches  and  removes  the  same  while 
the  white  stock  does  not  go  through 
this  process.  Now  stain  the  white 
wool  a  very  light  bluisih  itint  which 
is  easily  washed  off.    The  stain  is  of 


no  use  except  to  distinguish  it  from 
other  iwihite  atock.  Is  it  the  boiling 
procesis  'that  removes  the  sediment? 
Of  course  the  stock  can  be  injured  in 
the  dyehouse  but  if  properly  taken 
care  of  it  iwill  come  out  all  right. 

If  the  aibove  is  carefully  looked  after 
the  stock  is  ready  for  the  picker  room. 
Now  the  bars  that  hold  the  teeth 
should  be  closed  in  not  to  allow  the 
stock  to  wind  around  the  bars.  The 
stock  winding  around  these  bars, 
PARTICULARLY  ON  LONG  STOCK, 
occurs  when  ithe  lot  is  finisihed,  re^ 
moved  from  the  bars  and  put  back 
into  the  lot  in  a  sitringy  and  slightly 
felted  condition.  Now  tliis  should  not 
be.  Again,  the  lot  is  then  blown 
through  a  tube  to  the  card  room. 
Now  I  have  seen  a  careless  man  choke 
up  the  tube  by  heavy  feeding  and  al- 
low the  stock  to  revolve  around  until 
it  was  felted  and  stringy,  which  leaves 
it  in  very  bad  condition.  To  sheet 
up  the  lot  I  think  is  the  best  way. 
It  removes  the  cause  of  the  tube  chok- 
ing and  leaves  the  lots  in  better  con- 
dition, especially  large  ]ots>  Now  a 
man  wall  write  that  the  cards  are  old 
and  antiquated,  not  up  to  date.  Just 
so!  Well,  get  busy,  make  it  up  to  date 
as  much  as  possible,  get  all  out  of  it 
that  can  be  got  and  you  will  find  an 
improvement  and  when  a  firm  sees 
this  they  will  give  the  proper  sup- 
plies to  help  on  more  improvement. 

No.  42. 


UNEVEN  CLOTH. 


By  uneven  cloth  is  meant  shady 
cloth  and  cloth  with  either  thick  or 
thin  places. 

This  is  one  of  the  hardest 
things  to  cQintend  with  especially 
in  a  weave  room  where  the 
humidity  is  not  under  control. 
Most  naturally  the  friction  let-off  feels 
the  effect  of  the  dampness  more  than 
the  gear   let-o#,  although    in  some 


52 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


cases  the  strap  tlhaJt  oheckis  someiwhat 
tihe  let-off  oi  the  gear  is  influenced 
by  dampness.  Taken  as  a  w^hole,  the 
friction  let-off  is  most  certainly  the 
best,  that  is,  the  rope  wrapped  around 
the  beam  head,  or  it  may  be  a  chain, 
an  iron  band,  or  a  strip  of  raw  hide. 
Two  of  the  largest  loom  manuifaotur 
ers  in  this  country  prefer  a  chain  fric- 
tion to  a  ro'pe  friction,  for  the  reason 
that  the  former  is  not  ais  subject  to 
atmospheric  cihangeis  as  the  latter. 
The  different  let-offs  mentioned  give 
good  results  if  proper  attention  is  giv- 
en them,  but  if  aJllowed  to  go  moire  or 
less  as  they  please,  they  are  the  worst 
form  of  let-offs.  A  little  powdered 
black  lead  will  soon  remedy  a  rope 
that  has  become  sticky,  this  being 

A  COMMON  DBPEICT. 

French  chalk  is  often  used  with  very 
good  results,  but  this  is  more  liable 
to  cake  and  become  sticky  with  a 
change  of  atmosphere  as  comipared 
with  graphite.  Oil  acicidentally 
dropped  on  the  beam  head  would  also 
give  the  French  dhalk  a  tendency  to 
cake  and  become  sticky.  Many  loom 
fixers  have  been  known  to  use  oil  on 
the  beam  head,  claiming  that  it  al- 
lowed the  rope  to  slip  more  freely, 
but  these  same  men  have  been  seen 
to  take  great  pains  in  wipiing  off  the 
oil  under  other  oircumistanceis.  Often- 
times uneven  c'loith  iis  caused  by  the 
spike  or  gudgeon  in  the  beam  having 
sprung.  This  might  be  caused  by 
hanging  the  beam  on  the  floor,  and 
when  the  yarn  is  drawn  off,  the  un- 
even turn  of  the  beam  causes  a  corre- 
sponding uneven  let-off  of  the  yarn. 
Many  times 

THE   TAKE  UP  MOTION 

is  the  cause  of  uneven  cloth.  The  ma- 
jority of  take  up  motions  that  are 
on  the  two  pick  principle,  that  is,  re- 
ceiving motion  from  the  pick  cam 
shaft,  are  comstruoted  so  that  with  a 
little  change  they  can  be  made  to 
take  up  two  teeth  at  a  time.  Now  un- 
der this  construjdtion  it  is  quite  na- 


tural that  the  radhet  gear  has  a  little 
more  play  than  whait  is  absolutely  nec- 
essary to  take  up  one  tooth,  because 
it  is  owing  to  the  loss  of  a  portion 
of  a  tooth  by  the  check  pawl,  and  a 
portion  also  by  the  take  up  lever  that 
the  motion  only  takes  one  tooth.  The 
converging  of  these  points  and  the 
using  of  the  loss  of  space  trav- 
elled by  the  take  up  lever  and 
the  check  pawJl,  enables  the  motion  to 
take  up  two  teeth.  If  the  ratchet  gear 
does  not  swing  a  little  and  work  per- 
fectly free,  then  an  uneven  cloth  can 
be  expected,  because  instead  of  swing- 
ing back  a  little  to  meet  the  check 
pawl,  the  gear  istayis  in  the  position 
to  which  it  is  drawn  by  the  take  up 
lever,  this  occasionally  causing  two 
teeth  to  be  itaken  up. 

UNEVEN  SPUN  YARN 

makes  a  bad  looking  cloth,  this  being 
sometimes  called  a  cockly  cloth.  Un- 
even setting  of  the  harness  will  cause 
uneven  cloth,  that  is,  the  harness  not 
lifting  equally  at  boith  sides,  or  an 
uneven  shed,  one  lifting  higher  than 
the  other.  Regarding  this  lasT  defect, 
the  fixer  should  be  very  careful  in  the 
starting  of  tihe  warp  to  see  that  all 
is  straight.  Uneven  cloth  is  often 
caused  by  the  arm  that  supports  the 
whip  roll  being  worn  and  if  there  is 
much  vibration  of  the  whip  roll,  this 
has  a  tendency  to  raise  a  little  out 
of  the  place  that  is  worn,  so  that  if 
the  ends  of  the  whip  roll  are  w«rn 
unevenly  and  the  roll  moves  around 
a  little,  it  is  raised  higher  up,  uneven 
cloBh  being  the  result. 

LOOSE  PERFORATED  TIN 

will  sometimes  overlap  causing  a  thin 
place  in  the  cloth. 

When  the  rocker  shaft  bearing  is 
loose  there  is  an  uneven  movement 
to  lay  when  beating  up.  If  ithe  crank 
arm  is  loose,  or  one  is  slightly  long- 
er than  the  other,  the  reed  does  not 
beat  up  evenly;  a  loose  reed  will  also 
give  the  same  result. 

Occasionally  the  guide  roller  will 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


53 


come  loo'se  and  turn,  and  if  it  has 
not  been  set  istraighlt  uneven  cloth 
will  be  the  result.  If  the  dloth  under 
the  friction  band  is  allowed  to  remain 
on  too  long,  it  becomes  sticky  and  al- 
lows the  beam  to  let  off  in  jumps. 
Sometimes  wihen  attaching  the  fric- 
tion, the  knot  in  the  cloth  is  aJUowed 
to  remain  under  the  friction  baind  and 
this  will  cause  la  very  uneven  leit-off. 
And  if 

THE  FRIOTION  DEVEIR 

is  allowed  to  rest  on  the  band  or  beam 
head,  it  will  prevent  the  proper  letting 
off  of  the  warp. 

If  a  beam  flange  is  broken,  wihem  the 
heavier  side  is  paisising  down,  it  goes 
down  more  quickly  than  When  the 
broken  side  is  passing  down.  This  lis 
especially  so  when  fancy  cloths  are 
being  woven,  and  it  is  not  uncommon 
to  add  a  weight  to  the  broken  side 
to  balance  the  beam.  When  the  bear- 
ing for  the  sand  iroller  is  worn,  the 
roller  jumips  causing  cloudy  cloth. 

Sometimes  the  weight  will  toudh  the 
floor,  or  the  weight  from  a  toip  beam 
touch  the  lower  beam.  If  the  beam 
head  is  crooked  w^hen  it  turns  around 
it  will  touch  the  whip  roll.  If  there 
is  too  much  pull  on  the  friction  roller 
the  cloth  will  be  strained.  If 

THE  HARNESSES 

are  not  set  level,  shady  dyed  cloth 
will  almost  certainly  be  the  result, 
because  the  siheds  being  lower  on  that 
side  the  cloth  is  a  trifle  thicker,  the 
consequence  being  that  there  is  a  dif- 
ference in  the  absoTbtion  of  the  dye- 
stuff.  If  one  edge  of  the  cloth  is  slack 
through  the  fault  of  the  temple,  'Sihady 
cloth  in  dyeing  will  result.  Some- 
times distinct  cracks  appear  in  the 
cloth,  and  these  may  almost  invari- 
ably be  found  to  be  caused  by  islack 
yarn.  This  is  especiaJlly  so  with  cam 
work  of  four  or  more  harneisises.  As 
a  summary  it  might  ibe  saJid  (that  un- 
even cloth  might  be  caused  by  any  one 
or  combinatioms  of  the  foSlloiwiing  de- 
fects: laoe  or  eaiily  ished,  a  sma:il  shed 


or  an  uneven  shed,  odd  or  loose  crank 
arms,  a  loose  roicker  sihafit  bearing  or 
a  looise  reed,  uneven  filling  iworn  whip 
roll,  damp  friction,  broken  beam  flang- 
es, gudgeons,  or  t)eam  ispikes  bentt, 
the  take  up  motion  out  of  order, 
tin  or  sand  roller  bearing  becoming 
worn  or  a  looise  perforated  tin  or  tin 
roller,  rope  twisted  around  the  beam 
head,  friction  lever  resting  on  the 
band  or  beam  head  or  a  crooked  beam 
head,  uneven  setting  of  the  harness, 
and  the  gear  let-off,  in  which  there 
may  be  a  number  of  defects. 

No.  43. 


DEFECTS  IN  YARN. 


It  behooves  all  men  in  positions  of 
responsibility  to  be  alert  and  prepared 
for  any  condition  that  tends  to  make 
imperfect  yarn  and  to  forestall  it  if 
possible.  Respecting  future  mill  men, 
are  the  graduates  of  the  textile 
schools  the  best  men  to  put  in  posi- 
tions of  responsibility?  If  so,  w^hy? 
Mill  calculations  can  easily  be  learned 
by  men  in  the  mill  if  they  only  would 
give  a  little  time  to  it  evenings.  A 
correspondence  course  in  textiles,  or 
a  special  course  in  the  particular- 
branch  in  which  one  is  directly  in- 
terested can  be  studied  to  advantage 
in  one's  spare  time,  and  the  informa- 
tion obtained  can  be  put  to  practical 
use  making  the  student  a  better  mill 
man,  a  better  thinker,  and  giving  him 
a  power  of  coneentration  that  he 
never  dreamed  of  before.  After  mas- 
tering tihe.'sul)jects  taught,  he  becomes 
a  man  that  knows  that  he  knows, 
whereas  before  ihe  probably  was  not 
quite  certain  of  'lis  knowledge  or  raith- 
ev  knew  but  did  not  know  that  he 
knew.  I  thnik,  all  thing's  eomsidered, 
the  practical  mill  man  with  technical 
education   In   his   partticular   line  of 


54 


n    TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


work  is  preifeiraible  to  the  textile 
school  graduate  with  no  experience 
other  than  what  he  ha.s  learned  at  the 
school.  I  have  in  mind  one  of  these 
graduates,  who  held  a  responsible  po- 
siition,  being  shown  a  bobbin  of 
cockled  yarn.  He  did  not  know  what 
it  was  nor  the  cause  of  it.  Whether 
the  successful  sup enintein dent,  or  ov- 
erseer, is  born  to  be  such  or  not  is 
a  question. 

AS  A  MILL  MAN 

the  writer  has  always  taken  pride  in 
whatever  he  had  to  do,  whether  it 
was  miaking  laps,  or  weaving  cloth. 
His  grandparents  were  both  prominent 
mill  men  across  the  water,  one  of 
them  being  the  proprietor  of  a  small 
weaving  mill,  the  o-ther  being  overseer 
of  carding  and  spinning  so  it  may  or 
may  not  be  in  the  blood. 

With  the  writer  of  ''Comments"  I 
agree.  A  good  overseer  takes  pride  in 
his  woirk,  takes  pride  in  his  help,  in 
the  up  keep  of  his  room,  in  the  produc- 
tion and  quality  of  his  goods  wihether 
yarn  or  cloth,  and  it  hurts  his  pride 
to  have  some  either  overseer,  in  the 
pi-esence  of  the  isuperintendent  and 
O'ther  overseers,  point  out  defects  in 
his  methods  and  if  he  has  any  back- 
bone ihe  will  naturailly  resent  it  on  the 
spot,  and  ought  to.  The  writer  once 
worked  for  a  prominent  cotton  manu- 
facturing concern  thaJt  employs  about 
4,000  hands.  This  company  was  will- 
ing to  help  its  employes  in  various 
ways.  A  brass  band  was  organized 
among  the  help,  the  company  advanc- 
ing money  for  instruments,  music, 
etc.,  and  giving  them  a  hall  free  of 
charge  to  rehearse  in.  The  band  ex- 
isted for  about  five  years.  There 
were  bickerings,  petty  jealousies,  mis- 
understandings of  all  kinds,  neglect 
of  work  and  final  disbanding  and  the 
company  was  the  loser  all  through. 
Of  course  this  is  not  always  the  case, 
but  there  are  those  that  do  not  appre- 
ciate what  is  aone  for  them  and 
again  there  are  others  that  will  re- 
sent any  efforts  that,  to  them,  look 


like  a  re&raint  of  liberty  iwhen  It 
comes  to  what  is  known  as  welfare 
work.  The  writer  of  the  article  "Im- 
perfect Yarn"  isbows  up  a  great  deal, 
every  bit  of  which  is  met  with,  more 
or  losis.  The  writer  well  remembers 
when  he  had  to  stop  about  forty 
frameis  that  iwere 

MAKING  COCKLED  YARN, 

every  pound  of  which  it  was  expected 
would  ihave  to  go  into  waste.  After 
the  rolls  were  set  for  the  longer  staple 
the  yarn  was  doffed  and  spooled  and 
two  threads  of  good  yarn,  and  one  of 
the  cockled  yarn  were  twisted  to- 
gether for  three-^ply  and  no  waste  was 
made  in  ithis  particular  case.  Such 
articles  as  those  mentioned  and  also 
the  articles  on  belting,  coal  economy, 
boilers,  oils,  engines,  etc.,  are  What 
makes  your  paper  valuable  to  the  man 
inside  the  mill.  No.  44. 


HARMFUL  TO  COTTON 
GOODS. 


AlthO'Ug'h  pine  cellulose  is  very  sta- 
ble and  not  readily  aittacked  by  micro- 
organiisims,  impure  cotton  is  very  li- 
able to  bacterial  damage.  It  some- 
times becomes  e\^ident  in  the  form 
of  spots,  or  colonies,  or  a  diffuse 
growth,  and  occasionally  the  color  of 
the  cotton  goiods  may  be  entirely  al- 
tered. Bacterial  groiwth  often  causes 
tendering  of  tihe  cotton  fibre,  and  al- 
ways in  the  case  of  finished  goods, 
destruction  of  the  dresis,  frequently 
accompanied  (by  a  musty  odor.  Cot- 
ton may  become  infected  during 
bleaching  and  finislhing  at  lallmo^st  any 
stage,  and  wihen  lonce  infected,  espe- 
cially with  a  spore  forming  organisim, 
the  «ubseqiuent  processes  are  often 
not  isuflioiently  drastic  to  kill  the  lat- 
ter, which  lie  dormant  until  the  goods 


TEXTILE    DEFeCTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


55 


are  stored  and  then  foTim  a  fresh 
growth. 

THE  BRINiOIPAL/  vjaUSES 

of  infection  are: 

1.  Impure  wiater  for  isteepiing  and 
other  p'urpoises. 

2.  Inooimplete  rem(o»vial  of  nitrog- 
enous oonistituents  during  so'da  bioil. 

3.  Allowing  goods  to  be  about  in  a 
damp  loomdition  between  the!  processes. 

4.  Use  of  low  grade  starches  and 
glues. 

5.  Careleiss  istoring  oif  the  flniisbed 
product. 

6.  Uncleanlinesis  about  the  plant  or 
building. 

Impure  water. — Where  suspioioius  or 
polluted  isurface  or  subsoil  waters  are 
used,  mildew  ifrequently  results.  The 
rapiidity  with  \\^hioh  dresisimg  mixtures 
sometimes  sour  is  oiften  traceable  to 
this  cause. 

Incompilete  isodia  boil. — ^An  import- 
ant rule  in  isuccessful  ibleacihing  is 
a  thoroiugh  soda  iboil.  An  incomplete 
boil  not  only  leaves  greasy  matters, 
whidh  protect  the  fibre  from  the  ac- 
tiom  oif  chlorine,  but  nitrogenous 
bodies,  which  may  subsequently  cause 
trouble  both  directly  and  indirectly 
in  that  they  render  the  cotton  more 
liable  to  bacterial  infection.  A  great 
deal  of  isco'ured  ooitton  contains  as 
much  as  .3  per  cent  of  nitrogen,  and 
in  every  case  of  bacterial  infection  ex- 
amined, a  high  nitrogen  icontent  has 
been  foiund  in  the  cotton. 

CARE'LEiSS  HANDIjING. 

The  danger  of  allowing  moist  goods 
to  lie  about  espeoially  in  warm  weath- 
er is  often  not  isufRciently  realized. 
It  is  a  common  cause  of  mildew. 

Uise  of  low  grade  finishing  mater- 
ialis. — In  many  cases  price  is  the  only 
factor  whidh  determines  the  iselection 
of  flni'sihing  materials,  no  regard  be- 
ing paid  to  quality.  But  in  the  selec- 
tion of  starches  and  glues  quality 
shoulld  be  the  chief  factor. 

AliL,  STARJCHES 
containing   an    undue   proportion  of 


water  are  liable  to  be  mouldy  wihen 
used,  and  those  containing  a  high  per- 
centage of  nitrogen  are  also  unsuit- 
able for  many  purpo>ses.  Furtlier- 
more,  many  thin  istarches  which  are 
often  essentially  mixtures  of  starch 
and  dextrin,  contain  as  much  as  six 
per  cent  of  dextrose  or  other  reduc- 
ing sugars,  and  gooids  dressed  with 
such  istarcheis  do  not  keep  well.  The 
following  is  an  example  of  a  thin 
starch  used  for  goods,  which  after- 
ward developed  mould:  water,  10.4 
per  cent;  dextrin,  20  per  cent;  dex- 
trose, 6.95  per  cent;  istarclh,  62.4  per 
cent;  mineral  matter,  25  per  cent. 

Inferior  glues  in  a  similar  way  ow- 
ing to  the  large  amiount  of  soluble 
nitrogen  which  they  eontain,  and  the 
deli queis cent  nature  of  the  peptones 
are  very  liable  to  become  mouldy.  It 
is  very  rare  to  find  mould  w*here  a 
good  grade  of  glue  'has  been  em- 
ployed. 

EXAMPLES 

of  good  and  bad  glues  used  for  cotton 

goods  are: 

Good.  Bad. 


%  % 

Water   14.23  16. 

Ash   ,   1.33  2.35 

Gelatine   78.08  66.25 

Peptones    1.95  11.42 

Non-gelatinous  bodies   4.41  3.98 


Careless  storing  of  the  finiisihed 
product  iis  sometimes  responsible  foa- 
the  develoipment  of  ibacteiliail  growth. 
This  is  often  noticed  in  thoise  that 
are  miade  for  export  to^  warm  and 
damp  climateis.  AM  cotton  goods, 
however  carefully  prepared,  contain 
numeroius  organism's,  land  the  condi- 
tion's of  storing  should  alwajyis  be  such 
as  wi  11  di  s  co  urag O'  thieir  gr  oiwi th .  CI  ea  n  - 
linesis,  of  course,  is  an  important  fac- 
tor. Occurence  of  mould  is  not 
infrequently  found  to  be  due  to  or- 
ganismis  Indigenous  to  the  louistomers 
premises,  ^and  does  not  recur  after 
the  application  of  sanitary  conditions. 

No.  45. 


56 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


HERRING-BONE  STYLES. 


The  crossing  in  both  parts  of  an 
angled  design  or  herring-boine  effeci 
may  be  made  equally  decided  in  ap- 
pearance in  two  ways:  First,  by  ar- 
ranging the  yarns  one  thread  cross- 
band,  and  one  'thread  openband  al- 
ternately; and  secondly,  by  arranging 
for  the  twill  in  the  yarn  to  oppose  the 
twine  in  both  sections  of  the  pattern. 
The  latter  method  is  the  one  most 
used,  the  former  'being  not  very  well 
adapted  for  the  purpose,  as  it  will  not 
develop  the  make.  According  to  the 
latter  -method  the  warp  yarns  for  an 
ordinary  herring-bone  effect  would  be 
ordered  as  follows:  Eight  threads  of 
crossband  yarn  for  the  first  seotion 
and  eight  threads  of  openband  yarn 
for  the  second  section.  Such  an  ar- 
rangement of  threads  would  cause  the 
weave  to  be  well  pronounced  in  char- 
acter in  the  respective  stripes,  and 
woiuld  be  very  suitable  for  pantings. 
Of  course,  any  modification  of  this 
could  be  made  according  to  individual 
taste,  the  main  oibject,  of  course,  be- 
ing to  conform  with  existing  condi- 
tions of  style  and  to  catch  the  eye  of 
the  fickle  consumer.  No.  46. 


MERINO  YARN. 


All  hosiery  yarns  should  be  even, 
elastic  and  soft  twisted.  Even,  be- 
cause any  unevenness  such  as  knots, 
slugs  or  bunches,  made  in  piecing,  will 
cause  holes  all  out  of  proportion  to 
the  size  of  the  unevenness  in  the  fab- 
ric. Elastic,  because  all  knit  goods 
should  be  elastic  in  every  direction, 
and  when  stretched  should  return  to 
their  normal  size  and  shape  again. 
Soft  twisted,  because  a  hard  twisted 
yarn  is  harsh  and  irritating  to  the  skin 
and  a  soft  twisted  yarn  has  a  more 


"kindly"  feeling,  besides  being  a  more 
elastic  yarn  than  a  hard  twisted. 

Hosiery  yarns  are  mostly  high  grade 
yarns  and  require  good  material  in 
their  manufacture.  A  merino  yarn  Is 
a  yarn  having  both  wool  and  cotton  fi- 
bres drawn  and  twisted  together  in  its 
manufacture.  The  cotton  fibres  are 
used  on  account  of  its  low  cost  and  its 
properties  as  a  conductor  of  heat. 

This  yarn  is  composed  of  seventy- 
five  per  cent  wool,  twenty -five  per 
cent  cotton.  The  wool  is  from  a  good 
grade  of  territory  grown  wool  and  of  a 
quality  equal  to  a  one-half  blood.  It 
has  been  combed  and  is  ready  for  the 
balling  head  gill  box,  the  first  opera- 
tion under  the  French  system  of  spin^ 
ning  yarns.  The  cotton  is  of  a  good 
quality  peeler  cotton,  combed  and  of 
the  proper  size  sliver  to  be  mixed  with 
rhe  wool  at  the  back  of  the  reducer. 

FRENCH  SYSTEM. 

The  French  system  consists  of  the 
balling  head  gill  box,  first  drawing 
frame,  second  drawing  frame,  third 
drawing  frame,  reducer,  slubber,  first 
intermediate,  second  intermediate,  rov- 
er, finisher  and  mule. 

Stock  will  stand  a  draft  on  the  mule 
of  eight,  and  a  draft  in  drawing  of  four 
and  two-tenths.  Comb  sliver  equals 
two  and  one-half  ounces  for  five  yards. 

To  spin  20s  worsted: 

cxw 

Formula  equals  18.3. 

d 

c  equals  counts  to  be  spun. 

w  equals  weight  in  drams  of  forty  yards  of 

roving-, 
d  equals  draft  on  mule. 

18.3  equals  weight  in  drams  of  40  yards  number 

one's  counts. 
Five  hundred  and  sixty  yards  of  number  one's 

counts    equals    two    hundred    and  fifty-six 

drams. 

Forty  yards  is  selected  as  a  convenient  meas- 
ure of  length. 
256x40 

.  •  .    equals  18.3  drams. 

560 

18.3 

Let  c  equal    20s,   then    equals  weight  in 

60 

drams  of  forty  yards  of  20' s  counts. 

18.3x8 

Let  d  equal    8,  then    equals  weight  in 

20 

drams  of  40  yards  entering  mule. 
But  w   equals  weight  in  drams  of  40  yards 


TEXTILE 


DEFECTS 


AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


57 


of   rovins;,    hence   substituting   and  solving, 

20xw 

 equals  18.3  w  equals  73.2  dram  roving. 

8 

2V2  oz.  sliver  for  5  yards  equals  320  drams  for 
40  yards.  Doublings  for  9  operations  of  draw- 
ing. 

Formula. 

320 

I.og.  of  constant  or  the  Log.  of  43.7,  +  2 

7.32 

Log.  4+4  Log.  of  3  +  0  Log.  of  2  equals 

Log.  of  4.2  to  the  9th  power. 
Solving  .623  equals  .623  number  corresponding 

to  this  los2:arithm  is  4.2. 
iJoublings    in   consecutive   order   of  machines 
equal  4,  3.  4,  2,  2,  2,  8,  3,  3. 

320x4 

Weight  at  end  of  first  operation  equals 

4.2 

304.7  drams. 

304.7x3 

2d  operation  equals  217.6  drams. 

4.2 
217.6x4 

3d  operation  equals  207  drams. 

4.2 

207x2 

4th  operation  equals  98.5  drams. 

4.2 

The  cotton  is  mixed  at  this  next  operation, 
sliver  Aveighing  67.72  grains  per  yard  equal  to 
P8..5  drams  per  40  yds. 

98.5x2 

Weight  at  end  of  5th  operation    equals 

4.2 

47  drams. 

47x2 

6th  operation  equals  17.8. 

4.2 

17.8x3 

7tl:  operation  equals  14.1. 

4.2 
14.1x3 

8th  operation    equals  10.25. 

4.2 
10.25x3 

9th  operation  equals  7.32  dram  roving. 

4.2 

SPINNING— FRENCH  MULE. 
Spin  20s  count  with  six  and  one- 
half  turns  per  inch,  using  a  twelve 
inch  rim  and  gearing  to  give  this  soft 
twist. 

As  it  is  necessary  to  remove  all 
bunches  made  in  piecing  and  to  have 
an  equal  tension  on  yarn  entering 
knitting  machine,  I  wound  the  yarn 
from  the  cops  on  to  cones,  setting  ma- 
chine according  to  the  size  of  my  yarn 
and  this  finished  all  preliminary  proc- 
esses to  knitting. 

KNITTING. 
This  hosiery  knit  upon  the  George 
D.  Mayo  machine  of  one  hundred  and 
seventy-six  needles  is  called  seamless 
hosiery. 

The  operation  consists  of  first  knit- 


ting the  ribbed  top  on  the  Wildman 
ribber  and  transferring  this  top  to  the 
footing  machine,  the  George  D.  Mayo, 
then  it  passes  to  the  sewing  machine, 
or  looper,  which  loops  up  the  toe  and 
completes  the  stocking. 

The  finishing  of  stockings  is  a  short 
process  consisting  of  washing,  dyeing 
and  pressing  on  the  board  provided  for 
this  size.  No.  47. 

DOWN  IN  THE  DYEHOUSE. 


The  mianager  came  'round  half 
drunk  and  very  ugtly  this  morning  and 
made  lots  of  trouble  for  us  doiwn  in 
the  dye'ho'use. 

Did  you  no'tlce  that  phrase  I  made 
use  of  a  minute  ago?  ''Down  in  the 
dyehouse."  It  isn't  mine.  I  merely 
picked  it  up  somewhere  unconsciously 
like  the  resit,  and  became  accustomed 
to  it  withoiut  effort  of  mind.  Where- 
ever  I  went  through  the  mills  it  Was 
invariably  used,  and  finally  it  set  me 
musing.  I  began  to  reflect  upon  Its 
frequency  and  derivation  and  it  wa?n't 
long  bef OTe  I  felt  it  riling  me;  and 
I  gave  up  the  word  in  indigniation 
and  shame.  Just  now  I  recalled  it  on 
purpose  to  call  your  atitenition  to  it. 
Why  sihould  it  be  forever,  "down," 
in  the  dyeihouse?  The  dyer's  realm 
is  often  in  the  basement;  but  not  so 
always.  Neverthele&s,  wherever  it 
happens  to  be,  mention  is  always 
made  of  its  being  down.  I  have  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  saying  is 
not  indicative  of  loicality  so  much  as 
of  the  half  comceiaJleid,  and  half  ad- 
mitted scorn  with  which  the  other 
rooms  in  the  mill  loiok  askance  at  it. 
The  oflice  sitaff  and  the  super  have 
the  same  common  point  of  view  ma- 
tu rally  as  becomes  the  upper  stratum. 

I  don't  know  hoiw  much  the  fem- 
inine por^tion  of  the  hellp  contribute 
to  this  view,  but  their  sex,  the  dyer 
and  his  heilpers  are  always  "down" 
in  the  dyeho'use. 

"DIRTY  DYER  FELLOWS." 

I  nave  noiticed,  too,  that  all  the 


58 


TEXTILE 


DEFECTS 


AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


folks  at  any  *idy  kind  of  work 
around  the  mill  ar^e  in  a  similar  cate- 
gory. They  affecit  to  be  greatly  above 
workmen  and  a  workroom  that  are 
scarcely  presentable  sometimes  in 
business  hours  and  full  daylight. 
Even  the  expresfsman  addresse's  theim 
as,  **You  dirty  dyer  fellowis."  There's 
the  picker  room  hands — ^usually  the 
moist  smutty  looking  in  the  concern. 
They  look  upon  themselves  as  arisitoc- 
racy  alongside  of  the  toilers,  ''down" 
in  the  dyehouse.  And  wihat  a  lot  of 
mischief  they  do  make  for  us,  sure. 
Their  foreman  is  all  the  while  car- 
rying complaints  of  us  to  the  manager 
or  boss  carder.  The  stock  is  not 
ready  for  this  batch,  or  the  other; 
they  are  short  of  sudh  a  cotton  or 
shoddy;  or  the  miachines  are  all 
sitanding  for  something  else.  He  may 
find  a  few  uneven  piaJtches  in  a  kettle- 
ful  of  stock  and  make's  that  an  occa- 
sion for  more  growling.  A  look  or 
two  of  wooi  may  have  chocked  in  the 
wool  washing  machine,  and  escaped 
notice  and  he  will  pick  these  out  and 
dispilay  them  before  the  critical  gaze 
of  his  superiors  to  show  them  how 
the  white  stock  is  **not  half  scoured." 
He  will  swear  that  he  has  ordered 
certain  batches  of  current  colors  to 
be  got  ready  for  picking  by  some  spec- 
ified date,  and  sitick  to  the  state- 
ment despite  the  fact  that  he  has 
forgot  to  even  mention  the  matter 
and  can  produce  not  a  shred  of  proof 
for  his  assertion.  Then  the  manager 
will  stride  in,  irate  and  vengeful. 
''Here  you  will  have  fourteen  looms 
standing  idle  by  noon  to-morrow,  all 
for  want  of  a  little  attention,"  and  he 
will  go  on,  and  swear,  and  prance 
about  like  one  crazy.  The  queer  thing 
about  it  is  that  he  appears  always 
more  inclined  to  beilieve  the  ingenious 
liar,  than  to  take  the  dyer's  word  for 
it.  When  he  or  his  men  lift  a  sheet 
of  wool  to  carry  it,  or  when  they  take 
a  few  pounds  out  of  one,  and  leave 
the  balance  in  the  bin  the  stock  is 
left  behind  them  spilled  and  scattered 
all  over  the  place  as  far  as  t'ney  go. 


Then  the  super  is  forever  taking  the 
dyer  to  task  about  his  men  on  the 
wool  drying  machines.  They  don't 
tie  up  their  sheets  he  claims.  And 
so  it  goes  on. 

CARDER  FINDS  FAULT. 

The  carder,  also,  likes  to  find  fault 
with  the  dyer's  work  whenever  he 
can  and  is  not  above  carrying  tales. 
He  is  an  ignorant  old  fellow  but  a 
crony  of  the  manager's  who  thinks 
he  can  do  nothing  wrong.  The  two 
of  them  attacked  the  dyer  moist  un- 
mercifully not  long  ago  because  he 
was  tendering  the  stock  they  cHaimed 
by  an  overdoise  of  heat  in  the  dry- 
ing machinery.  It  was  a  marvel  they 
did  not  also  accuse  him  of  "burning" 
it  in  the  scouring,  and  in  dyeing,  but 
our  dyer  has  conistanltly  had  so  good 
a  name  for  the  careful  handling  of 
raw  stock  in  both  of  these  operations 
thait  they  judged  it  expedient  to  leave 
that  out.  When  it  was  slhown  con- 
clusively that  the  stock  was  aill  right 
they  dropped  false  accusations  and  al- 
lowed matters  to  rest.  The  next 
thing  I  heard  wais  that  they  had  dis- 
covered eventually  that  all  their  diffi- 
culty in  spinning  arose  from  the  roping 
from  the  cards  becoming  chilled  on 
the  mule  racks  alongside  the  north- 
east wall  of  the  top  spinning  floor. 
When  this  fresh  invention  got  abroad 
there  was  great  merriment  among  the 
mill  folks  great  and  small.  It  has 
always  been  a  puzzle  to  me  to  account 
for  the  bitter,  unreasonable  and  un- 
derhanded hostility  of  those  men.  1 
happen  to  be  aware  that  part  of  it 
is  due  to  the  dyer  refusing  to  connect 
himself  with  a  certain  secret  order  in 
which  a  number  of  the  men  are  in- 
tensely intereslted.  An  ignoble  rea- 
son, surely.  Notwithstanding,  I  can- 
not get  rid  of  the  conviction  that  a 
big  share  of  it  is  owing  to  contempti- 
bie  caste  feeling.  There's  more  or 
less  of  it  everywhere — in  these  yere 
You  Nighted  States  as  well  as  in 
Hindustan.  From  the  point  of  view 
of  the  card  room  and  picking  annex, 


TEXTILE 


DEFECTS 


AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


59. 


it  is  perennially  ''dowin"  in  the  dye- 
house  also. 

MACHINIST  AND  HIS  GANG. 

One  other  social  section  of  the  con- 
cern, and  I  am  through.  The  miac'hin- 
isit  (or  millwrighit)  and  his  gang  are 
very  chary  in  conceding  ordinary  in- 
telligence or  ability  to  the  dyer's 
sphere.  Our  **fixin'  man"  is  notorious 
within  the  factory  gate  as  a  genius 
who  never  does  anything  to-day  that 
he  can  possibly  put  off  till  tomorrovv. 
You  will  therefore  easily  compre'hend 
that  it  is  positive  discomfort  to  him 
to  be  obliged  to  attend  to  defective 
steam  and  water  valves  and  leaky 
pipes  about  the  dyeing  and  scouring 
departments  without,  "the  customary 
two  weeks'  notice,"  and  right  off,  im- 
mediaitely,  at  once  as  must  sometimes 
be  the  case.  Neither  are  there  any 
nice  attractive  mechanical  contriv- 
ances there  to  catch  his  fancy  and  in- 
terest him;  and  unconsciously,  per- 
haps, he  resents  going  ''down"  in  the 
dyehouse  among  things  smutty  and 
prosaic.  His  carpenter  assistants  are 
not  otherwise.  Being  for  the  most 
part  a  wooden  outfit,  the  dyeroom 
frequently  stands  in  neea  of  a  fellow 
with  hammer  and  saw  and  olane. 
Tliey  get  their  tools  wet  and  dirty 
there,  you  under  stand,  and  once  in 
a  while,  their  feet,  like  the  poor  dye- 
room  artisans  themiselves  and  they 
come  to  have  an  not  unreasoinable 
aversion  to  the  place,  consequently  it 
is  invariably  "down"  to  the  dyehouse 
for  them  also. 

NOT  A  FANCY  SKETCH. 

Maybe,  a  few  of  you  may  get  the 
notion  that  all  this  talk  is  just  a 
clumsy  attempt  at  the  display  of  seic- 
tional  ill  will.  You  deem  it  a  fancy 
sketch,  overdrawn,  and  highly  imag- 
inative— ^the  disgruntled  effort  of 
some  dispeptic  man  busily  engaged  in 
"chewin  the  rag."  I  am  happy  to  be- 
lieve, however,  that  there  are  others 
who  know  better,  and  have  realized 
what  it  means  to  spend  a  lifetime  of 
honest  activities  and  smothered  am- 


bitions "down  in  the  dyehouse." 

I  want  to  tell  you,  gentlemen,  that 
the  dyeroom  is  not  a  department  to 
be  sneezed  at.  It's  more  of  an  im- 
portant adjunct  to  the  mill  than  many 
of  you  credit.  If  it  is  kept  "down," 
by  reason  of  ignorance  and  a  proper 
realization  of  its  value  you  ought  to 
be  ashamed  rather.  Remember  that 
it  is  only  baseless  prejudice  that  keeps 
it  from  being  fitted  up  and  valued  at 
par  with  other  sections  of  the  plant. 
It's  getting  about  time  to  give  it  that 
place  of  prominence  which  it  deserves 
to  occupy.  No.  48. 

COMMENT. 

The  above  article  is  written  by  a 
more  or  less  unhappy  second  hand  in 
the  dyehouse  and  is  printed  in  accord- 
ance with  our  policy  in  recognizing 
that  the  second  hand,  no  less  than  the 
overseer,  is  a  recognized  factor  in  the 
development  of  the  textile  industry. 
We  desire  to  create  a  feeling  through- 
out the  United  States  that  the  men 
who  make  the  textile  industry  here  in 
the  United  States  what  it  is,  the  great- 
est industry  in  the  world,  are  not  only 
the  superintendents  and  overseers, 
but  the  lowly  second  hands  who  de- 
vote  not  only  their  energy,  but  their 
brains  to  their  work,  in  what  capac- 
ity they  may  serve. 

We  advise  the  writer  of  the  above 
article,  however,  to  cheer  up  and  get 
into  a  better  mill.  There  are  very  few 
modern  mills  in  the  United  States  to- 
day in  which  the  dyehouse  is  not  con- 
sidered about  the  most  important  de- 
partment in  the  whole  mill.  The  old 
time  dyer  can  hardly  compete  with 
the  modern  dyer,  as  dyeing  to-day  is 
not  merely  a  process,  it  is  a  science 
The  American  manufacturers  have  nor 
realized  this  as  much  as  the  German 
manufacturers,  but  it  has  been  im- 
pressed upon  them  more  and  more  ot 
late,  until  now  the  importance  of  the 
dyehouse  is  second  to  no  other  de- 
partment in  the  whole  mill.  This  is 
attested  by  the  fact  that  many  of  the 
mills  in  making  improvements  and 
bu'lding  are  paying  special  attention 


60  TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


to  the  construction  of  the  dyehouse, 
great  pains  being  taken  in  regard  to 
the  smallest  detail,  and  it  is  a  recog- 
nized fact  that  a  good  dyer  is  a  man 
that  is  catered  to  by  mill  men,  and 
can  command  a  salary  far  above  that 
of  any  other  overseer  in  the  mill.  So 
you  can  plainly  see  that  the  expression 
''dovv^n  in  the  dyehouse"  does  not  hold 
true  where  the  mill  is  an  up-to-date 
one,  and  where  the  overseers  are  men 
who  are  keeping  up  with  the  times, 
by  reading  and  studying  different  con- 
ditions as  represented  by  the  different 
textile  papers. 


CARD  STRIPPING 

IMPROVEMENT. 


There  are  in  some  of  our  cotton 
mills  to-day  quite  a  few  top  flat  cards. 
By  this  I  mean  cards  of  a  smaller  type 
than  our  modern  revolving  flat  cards. 

Some  of  these  have  flats  on  both  top 
and  bottom,  while  others  have  flats  on 
the  top  only. 


Figure  A  Shows  Block  From  Side,  Show- 
ing How  Block  Is  Drilled  for  Pins. 


It  is  on  cards  of  this  type  that  I  wish 
to  suggest  an  improvement,  that  has 
been  made  in  the  stripping,  which,  I 
think,  is  done  mostly  by  hand  and 
when  the  cylinders  are  clothed  with  a 
coarse  wire  flllet  makes  it  hard  for 
the  operator,  as  the  lower  flats  have 
to  be  raised  from  the  cylinder  with  a 
rack,  and  when  stripped  with  a  hand 
card,  it  is  not  always  stripped  clean. 

THE  IMPROVEMENT. 
The  improvement  I  would  suggest 


is  to  strip  them  with  a  stripping  roll 
as  the  revolving  flat  cards  are  stripped. 
I  took  a  pair  of  old  grinding  stands 


Figure   B  Shows   End   of   Block   Cut  Out 
for  End  Pin. 

used  for  grinding  top  flat  cards,  cut 
off  the  bottoms  and  made  stripper 
stands   of   them,   then   bolted  these 


Figure    C,    Showing    Stand    Attached  to 
Block. 

stands  to  a  block  of  hard  wood,  cut 
oval  shape  on  one  side,  so  as  to  rest 
on  the  arch,  and  had  holes  drilled  to 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


01 


fit  the  top  flat  pins  as  shown  in  Figure 
A. 

Figure  B  shows  how  the  end  of  the 
block  is  cut  to  fit  pins  at  each  end. 

Figure  C  shows  stand  attached  to 
block. 

The  stripping  roll  is  seven  inches  in 
diameter,  with  five  inch  pulleys  for 
driving  roll  and  is  covered  with  or- 
dinary stripper  fillet. 


the  fact  that  the  shaft  extends  out  thir- 
teen inches,  and  the  belt  which  drives 
the  stripping  roll  has  to  be  kept  so 
tight  it  would  spring  a  lighter  shaft. 
Half  inch  round  belting  is  the  best  for 
driving  the  stripping  roll,  as  cotton 
banding,  which  is  often  used,  stretches 
so  that  it  is  impossible  to  keep  it 
tight. 

Figure  No.  1  shows  the  roll  in  posi- 


Figure    No.  1. 


The  reason  for  the  unusually  large 
stripping  roll  was  to  get  more  wire 
surface,  as  I  was  carding  heavy  and  it 
saved  time  by  having  to  put  the  strip- 
ping roll  on  but  once.  The  pulleys  for 
the  stripping  roll  are  grooved,  and  the 
loose  pulleys  of  the  cards  taken  off, 
and  have  h  groove  cut  in  as  deep  as 
the  stock  will  allow,  on  the  outside 
edge  of  the  pulley  as  shown  in  Figure 
No.  1,  marked  D. 

I  used  an  extra  heavy  shaft,  1% 
inches  in  the  stripping  roll,  owing  to 


tion  on  the  back  of  the  card,  the  bot- 
tom strippers  are  set  on  flat  (15),  then 
a  board  laid  across  the  bottom  stripper 
to  rest  the  flats  on.  Five  flats  are 
taken  off  and  put  on  the  board 
as  shown  in  Figure  No.  1,  marked  A. 

To  strip  in  this  manner  takes  three 
operators.  One  to  piece  up  ends,  start 
and  stop  the  cards,  and  particularly  to 
hold  the  belt  on  the  loose  pulley,  so 
that  the  stripping  belt  will  not  be 
thrown  off. 

The  other  two  operators  are  one  at 


62 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


each  end  of  the  roll  at  the  back  of  the 
card. 

STRIPPING  STANDS. 

The  stripping  stands  are  kept  on  the 
stripper  roll  shaft  and  when  the  strip- 
ping roll  is  taken  from  the  truck,  the 
stands  are  placed  on  the  pins  as 
shown  in  Figure  No.  1,  marked  B.  The 
operator  puts  on  the  band,  turns  down 
the  wheel  as  in  Figure  No.  1,  marked 
C,  until  it  just  touches  the  wire  on  the 
cylinder,  the  other  end  being  kept  off 
until  the  brush  is  started;  then  after 
slowing  down  the  cylinder,  the  opera- 
tor on  the  opposite  end  of  the  roll 
turns  the  wheel  down  on  his  side  until 
it  begins  to  clean  the  cylinder. 

When  stripped  clean,  the  roll  is  tak- 
en off  and  cleaned  as  is  done  on  re- 
volving fiat  cards,  using  a  truck  with 
a  board  having  a  stripper  sheet  tack- 
ed on  it,  put  lengthways  in  the  box 
made  to  carry  stripper  roll  on.  By 
the  old  method  it  took  two  operators 
two  hours,  twice  a  day,  to  strip  26 
cards  each.  They  are,  by  the  improv- 
ed method,  able  to  strip  three  times 
a  day  and  are  never  over  forty-five  or 
fifty  minutes  stripping  the  52  cards, 
and  the  cylinders  are  stripped  much 
cleaner,  and  the  cards  work  twenty- 
five  per  cent  better.  No.  49. 


MELTONS  AND  KERSEYS. 


Tlheise  fabrics  are  very  oflten  confus- 
ed, not  only  by  men  ouitside  of  the  tex- 
tiile  business,  but  by  th^oise  who  miake 
textileis  a  trade,  and  some  explana- 
tion regarding  both  these  fabricis  might 
be  of  value.  A  me'lton  is  a  fabric 
which  hais  been  giigged  and  napped, 
then  stheared  and  siteiamed  and  fiunther 
finished,  but  has  ne  feilt,  while  a  ker- 
sey is  a  fabric  thiat  hias  been  fullled  to 
a  greateir  or  leiss  extent  and,  as  a  rule, 
has  much  more  body  fthian  a  melton. 
The  difference  is  found  in  the  gigging, 
as  kerseys  get  their  dhiar'acteriistic  fin- 
ish in  the  gig  roiom,  while  meltons 
seldom  if  ever  enter  this  detpai^tment 


of  the  mill,  for  the  ohanactertiistic  of  a 
meliton  is  oppioisiite  that  of  a  kersey. 
Of  course,  there  are  many  grades  of 
kerseys,  both  fine  and  poor. 

A  BIG  MISTAKE 
is  made  in  the  steaming  otf  lower 
grades  of  kerseys,  for  instead  of  being 
an  advantage,  it  is  an  established  fact 
that  the  goods  are  aatually  hsarmed  by 
the  process,  as  it  tends  to  show  up  any 
imperfectionis  that  may  exist  more 
plainly.  Of  course,  the  water  finish 
does  not  give  as  good  and  as  per- 
manent a  lustre  as  the  steam  finish, 
but  St  ill  the  faults  may  be  hidden  more 
or  less  succesisfully.  Mannfaicturers  of 
the  lower  clasis  of  kense^ns  are  well 
aware  of  the  many  differemt  expedients 
resorted  to  in  order  to  imitate  the  bet- 
ter class  of  kerseys  other  than  the  or- 
dinary, simpler  water  finish.  But  with 
a  well  constructed  fabric  it  is  an  ab- 
solute necessity  to  bring  out  the  in- 
herent lustre  of  the  fibre  by  steam 
finishing,  thus  giving  the  fabric  its 
ch  arac  ter  i  s  ti  c  app  ear  an  ce. 

BURLED  THOROUGHLrY. 
Kerseys  should  be  burled  very  thor- 
oughly and  anything  tending  to  mar 
the  smoothness  should  be  carefully  re- 
moved, as  the  beauty  of  the  finish 
depends  on  the  degree  of  smoothness 
of  the  fabric.  Very  little  mending  is 
necessary  on  kerseys.  Misspicks  and 
missing  threads  should  be  sewn  on  the 
back  of  heavy-weight  fabrics,  for  if  this 
were  not  done,  there  would  be  a  strong 
probability  of  a  mark  on  the  face  of  the 
goods. 

After  burling  and  mending,  the  goods 
should  be  tacked,  after  which  they  are 
ready  for  fulling.  This  is  usually  done 
in  the  grease  with  a  good  bodied  mild 
alkaline  soap. 

FLOCKS. 

Flocks,  if  added  in  the  right  propor- 
tions and  of  the  proper  quality,  produce 
a  so'i.id,  smooth  fabric,  as  they  help 
to  fill  up  any  crevices  in  the  cloth. 
Flocks  shoiuld  be  added  in  small  quan- 
tities at  a  time  and  only  after  thei  goods 
have  commenced  to  felt.   Afteir  fulling 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


63 


the  goods  are  thomughly  v^asheid  and 
rinsed,  and  care  should  be  taken  that 
all  soap  is  removed.  When  the 
goods  are  thoroug-hly  cleaned,  they 
are  put  on  the  rolling  and  st retching 
machine  under  great  pressure.  A  com- 
mon occurrence  is  to  unroll  one  roll 
of  goods  at  a  time  in  order  to  send 
it  to  the  gig  or  napping  machine.  Now 
it  can  plainly  be  seen  that  unrolling 
one  roll  at  a  time  does  noit  give  uni- 
form handling  of  all  the  matenial,  so 
that  If  all  the  rolls  are  unwound  at 
about  the  same  time,  more  uniform 
results  might  be  expected.  Goods 
should  be  handled  so  that  aill  will 
receive  as  nearly  the  same  treatment 
as  can  be  given  them.  They  are  now 
ready  for  gigging.  In  gigging,  the  old- 
est i&ets  of  tea  sells  sho'uld  first  be  used, 
gi^adually  working  up  to  the  better  and 
newer  teasels. 

NAPPING. 

But  the  napping  miacihine  is  gradual- 
ly replacing  the  teasels,  as  for  all  ot- 
dinary  purposes  the  gigging  pro'cess 
can  be  saJtiisfactorily  periforimed  on  nap- 
pers  even  on  the  fineist  grade  of  work. 
Most  fine  goods  are  croppeid  after  the 
gigging  or  napping  operatio'n  has  been 
finisthed  o^r  rather  when  about  half  fin- 
ished. The  unnecessiary  nap  which 
has  been  raiised  is  now  sheared  so 
as  to  give  the  teasels  a  chance  to  do 
their  work  more  effectively  and  thor- 
ouglily,  and  also  to  even  up  the  fibreis 
that  have  been  already  raised,  in  or- 
der to  give  the  fabric  a  smooither  ap- 
pearance. The  goods  should  not  be 
sheared  too  low  so  that  after  finislhins: 
they  will  have  a  thin,  open  and  hun- 
gry appearance.  There  are  many  dif- 
ferenit  wiays  of  performing  the  gigging 
and  napping  and  different  finishers 
use  different  methods  during  this  op- 
eraltion,  Which  vary  more  or  less,  but 
which  give  results  that  are  satisfactory 
to  the  individuail. 

STEAMING. 
Steaming  is  the  nex^t  process  throug^h 


will  oh  the  kersey  passes.  The  goods 
must  be  thoroughly  cooled  after 
steaming.  They  are  then  ready  for 
dyeing,  if  piece  dyes;  but  if  yarn  dyes, 
they  are  speck  dyed,  after  which  they 
are  ready  for  welt  gigging.  Some  fin- 
ishers carbonize  their  goodis  after 
siteamftng,  but  thi's  is  only  done  wben 
circumistances  require  it.  After  the 
speck  dyeing  it  is  customary  to  give  a 
bath  of  fuller's  earth. 

When  wet  gigging  is  completed,  the 
goods  are  firmly  rolled  up  and  allow- 
ed to  stand  over  night  and  in  the  morn- 
ing they  are  extracted  and  dried,  after 
which  they  are  back  burled.  They  are 
then  steam  brusihed  and  sheared,  after 
which  they  are  brusihed  again  and 
specked,  providing  this  is  thought  nec- 
e'ssary.  They  are  then  inspected,  and 
piassing  the  proper  inspection,  are 
again  siteam  brushed  and  pressed,  and 
then  are;  given  a  final  inspection,  after 
which  they  are  measured,  rolled,  pack- 
ed and  ready  to  be  sihipped. 

Ail  of  the  proicesiseis  above  mention- 
ed in  the  finislhing  of  a  kersey  are  done 
with  the  purpoise  of  bringing  out  to 
the  fullest  extent  the  lustre  which  is 
lying  dormiant  in  the  wool. 

With  meltons,  however,  after  fulling 
and  waslhing,  the  goodis  do  not  undergo 
any  intermediate  process  but  go  at 
once  to  the  steamer,  lafter  which  they 
are  carbonized,  if  neces'sary,  and  dyed. 
If  a  yarn  dye,  speck  dyeing  should  not 
be  omitted  under  any  circumstances. 
The  goods  are  rolled  up  on  a  stretch- 
ing and  rolling  madhine  over  night 
after  speck  dyeing,  after  iwhicih  they 
are  dried  and  siheareid.  Sihearing  of  a 
melton  is  simiply  for  the  purpose  of 
cutting  off  lo'ng  hairs.  Then  a  light 
steam  brushing  follows,  after  which 
the  goods  are  pressed,  then  slightly 
steamed.  It  has  been  found  best  to 
give  this  steaming  on  the  preiss  and  to 
give  a  moderate  presising.  The  goods 
are  tihein  inspected  and  measured,  roll- 
ed, ticketed  and  packed,  ready  for 
shipment.  No.  50. 


64 


TEXTILE 


DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


SOME  FINISHING  FACTS. 


A  former  suggesitiom  on  flocking,  in 
my  opinion,  is  good  as  far  as  iit  goeis, 
namely,  tlie  invention  of  an  attachment 
to  flock  the  goods  to  a  certain  amount 
more  evenly  and  at  a  limiitod  time 
stop;  and,  again,  after  a  limited  time, 
let  on  some  more  flocks.  This,  indeed, 
woiuld  be  very  desirable,  but  to  aocom- 
pliish  this  end  woiMd  require  a  com- 
plicated attachment  wihich  wduld  re- 
quire muclh  time  and  mioney  to  con- 
S'truct,  and  there  is  little  encourage- 
ment for  the  finisher  to  sit  up  nig'hts 
burning  the  midnight  oil  evolving  a 
p^rohilem  that  would  add  eflicdency  to  a 
fulling  mill  in  order  to  save  2  or  2V2 
ounce's  of  flocks  per  yard. 

BEGIN  AiT  THE  ROOT. 

In  my  poor  way,  I  wouLd  'begin  at 
the  root  of  the  faibric  to  save  the 
stock  from  being  chafed  off  and  wasted 
and  an  accompanying  uneven  sititching 
or  fulling,  as  is  the  fact  in  a  particular 
make  of  fulling  mill  which  is  in  use 
in  many  mills  at  the  present  time  and 
has  been  for  many  years. 

It  has  been  the  writer's  priviilege  to 
have  had  experience  wiith  many  kinds 
of  fulling  mills  since  1863,  when  a  boy, 
up  to  the  present  time,  handling  all 
grades  froim  the  loiwesit  satinet  up  to 
the  higliest  woolens  manufactured  in 
this  country  and  to  my  knowledge  sold 
as  foreign  goods  at  $5  to  $7  per  yard. 
With  the  consitanit  changes  demanded 
oif  the  manufacturer  of  to-day  and  for 
the  past  few  years,  it  has  been  a  seri- 
ous problem  for  the  manu^adturer  to 
make  goods  to  meet  ithe  demand  of  the 
buyer,  who  dictates  the  price  which  he 
will  pay  for  the  goods.  The  sample 
he  selects  in  all  proibaibllity  is  a  high 
grade  of  w'oolen  goods  that  costs  from 
$5  to  $9  per  yard  and  the  manuifaciturer 
is  expected  to  imitate  or  copy  those 
hig^h  priced  goods  at  about  $1.25  to 
$1.50  per  yard,  w^hidh  the  manufacturer 
tells  the  buyer  he  cannot  do,  owlnig  to 


the  cost  of  wool,  and  the  buyer  tells 
him  in  no  uncertain  words  that  he 
cares  littde  what  the  goods  are  made 
from,  but  they  must  look  like  sample 
and  wool. 

ATTEIMPT  TO  MAKE  THE  GOODS. 

Then  an  attempt  is  made  to  make 
the  goods  laiccordlng  to  ithe  standard 
demanded  by  the  buyer,  and,  in  order 
to  keep  hiis  mill  employed  in  a  time 
of  little  demand  for  goods,  he  under- 
takes to  make  the  goods  that  he  might 
be  in  a  position  /to  keiep  his  organization 
together,  oftentimes  at  a  loss.  And  it 
was  onice  under  such  condiitions  that 
the  writer  was  forced  to  resort  to  an 
expeidientt  of  making  a  change  in  a  part 
of  the  fulling  so  that  the  goods  would 
be  fulled  with  a  suffiJcienit  amount  of 
sihrinkage  and  as  little  waste  in  dhaf- 
ing  as  possible  and  make  them  a  de- 
siirable  fabric  for  the  price  they  were 
to  be  sold  for. 

PATENTED  ATTAOHiMENT. 

This  the  writer  wais  enabled  to  ac- 
compMsh  by  takiing  out  an  attachment 
called  discs  and  emibodying  a  patented 
attachment  /that  Is  adapted  to  all 
grades  and  weights  of  woolens,  allow- 
ing the  greatest  amount  of  shrinkage 
with  the  least  waste  in  chafing  the 
mill,  being  capable  of  fulling  at  least 
400  yards  to  600  in  10  hours  and  saving 
2  oiunces  stook  to  each  yard  fulled  and 
requiring  25  per  cent  lesis  power  to  run 
the  mill  with  the  improved  attachment 
than  It  does  with  the  disc,  allow- 
ing the  goods  to  be  fulled  more  uni- 
formly from  side  to  centre  and  centre 
to  side  than  it  is  possible  to  full  with 
the  discs.  This  Is,  I  can  assure  you,  no 
sm/alil  matter,  for  in  this  process  is 
emibodied  the  key  block  that  holds  up 
and  gives  good  or  bad  results  to  the 
other  pro'cesises,  scouring,  gigging, 
steam  finisMng,  and  dyeing,  as  well 
as  the  dry  finishing,  and  for  this  rea- 
son the  writer  would  earnestly  sug- 
gest to  the  manufacturer  and  finisher 
to  give  the  fulling  mill  the  attention 
it  justly  deserves. 

The  attachment  I  have  mentioned 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


65 


has  been  in  use  for  the  past  three 
years  without  any  cost  for  repairs  and 
is  ,^ood  for  the  next  15  or  20  years. 
This  cannot  be  the  case  with  the  diisos. 
They  become  woirn  to  a  point  in  about 
four  months  on  low  grade  goods  that 
call  for  a  new  set. 

Much  more  might  be  written  on  this 
parti cu)lar  subject,  but  I  am  sure  that 
the  skilful  manufacturer  and  finiisher 
will  find  ample  matter  for  their  con- 
sideration in  my  poor  effort  to  suggest 
a  means  wheireby  a  better  piece  of 
goods  can  be  obtained,  with  a  net  sav- 
ing oif  $10  to  $15  on  every  400  yards  of 
goods  fulled  in  thiose  mills.    This  In- 
deed is  no  dream.    The  facts  are  to  be 
had  at  the  mill  where  this  change  has 
been  in  actual  existence  for  the  past 
three  years  with  good  results.  There 
is  no  danger  of  damage  being  done 
to  the  goods  during  the  proeess  of 
fulling,  as  there  are  no  bolts  or  nuts  to 
rust  or  break  off  and  fall  in  with  the 
goods  and  damage  them  during  full- 
ing, which  is  a  well  known  fact  to 
most  finis  hens,  and  a  very  serious  one^ 
as  Off  ten  the  goods  are  made  worthless 
by  tsuch  damage.    The  patteirnis  for  the 
improved  attachment  are  in  the  pos- 
session oif  a  well-known  machine  build- 
er and  cian  be  made  to  order  as  soon 
as  there  is  a  demand  for  them  from 
the  manufacturer,  and,  while  I  might 
write  very  miuoh  more  on  this  subject, 
I  trust  that  my  poor  effort  at  suggest- 
ing a  matter  of  so  much  importance  to 
the  manufaaturer  and  finisher  of  the 
present  time  may  be  of  some  value  to 
them.  No.  51. 
 ♦  »  

CRABBING. 


The  object  of  crahbing  a  piece  of 
cloth  is  to  obtain  a  set  of  the  fabric. 
The  process  consists  in  running  the 
cloth  through  hoiling  wiater,  and  in 
true  crabbing  only  boiling  water  is 
used  and  no  other  solution  of  amy  sub- 
stance.   The  craibhing  is  carried  out 


by  pressure,  heat,  and  cooillng,  and 
carries  out  a  cleanisinig  oiperatlon,  the 
boiling  water  through  which  the  cloth 
passes  removing  a  great  deal  of  ad- 
hering dirt  and  aniy  impurities  which 
the  cloth  miay  have  collected.  It  is 
essential  thialt  the  fabric  go  into  the 
crab  in  an  absoilutely  -smooth  condi- 
tion, for  if  it  did  not  enter  the  crab 
in  thiis  condition  there  would  be  a 
very  strong  ten,dency  to  form  wiasher 
wrinkles.  As  soon  as  the  cloth  strikes 
the  boiling  water  it  immediately  con- 
tracts, and  when  taken  out  and  allowed 
to  cool  the  setting  operation  com- 
mences. And  it  should  be  borne  in 
mind  that  the  longer  the  time  given 
the  fabric  to  cool,  the  more  permanent 
will  be  the  set  of  the  cloth.  Setting 
the  cloth  thus  give/s  an  incretase  in  lus- 
tre, but  should  the  cloth  be  cooled  too 
suddenly  it  loises  lustre  and  does  not 
get  as  s^ood  a  set. 

On  cheap  grades  of  sergeis  there  is 
a  strong  tendency  to  lustre  even  with- 
out the  craibbing  and  lafter  cooling 
process,  so  that  a  gradual  cooiling 
process  would  be  folly.  In  a  case  like 
this  the  cloth  is  cooiled  instantly,  by 
pasising  it  through  a  tank  of  cold 
water.  This  coiunteracts  the  tenidency 
of  a  too  ready  lustre.  On  finer  grades 
of  goods  it  has  always  been  neicessary 
to  blow  steiam  in  order  to  produce  a 
good  lustre. 

There  are  two  distinct  typeis  of  finish 
in  crahbing,  the  hard  and  the'  soft  fin- 
iish.  The  hard  finish  gives  a  high  lus- 
tre, and  to  produce  thiiS  the  cloth  is 
run  through  the  crah  with  the  top  roll 
down,  while  to  produce  a  soft  finish 
there  is  little  or  no  pressure  on  the 
top  roll. 

DIPPERENT  MAC'HINElS. 

Grabs  are  made  in  various  forms 
with  single,  double  and  triple  bowls. 
But  the  double  crab  is  the  most 
pi'actical  and  the  one'  most  ex- 
tensively used.  The  single  crah  is 
used  where  there  is  not  suffiicient  floor 
space  to  permit  of  a  larger  machine, 
and  the  triple  crab  is  ujsed  only  for 


66 


TEXTILE 


DEFECTS 


AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


speoial  gnacles  of  goodis.  Originially 
the  crabbiing  pnoceiss  wais  oarried  omt 
om  cloise  finisihed  piece  dyes  almost 
entirely,  but  as  ithe  different  manufajc- 
turers  caime  to  realize  the  benefits  to 
be  derived  from  this  process  they  came 
more  and  more  to  faovr  it.  All  piec- 
e's of  cloith  that  have  become  cockled 
or  creased  are  crabbed,  as  the  process 
has  a  strong  tendency  to  remove  these 
defects,  and  if  not  entirely  removed, 
to  remedy  them  quite  a  little.  On 
cental n  light- weigihit  goods,  scouring  iis 
often  done  away  with  and  crabbing 
substituted. 

The  lower  roll  on  a  crab  should 
have  a  bedding  of  burlap  from  one  to 
two  inches  thick,  and  about  twenty- 
five  to  thirty  yards  long,  but  the 
upper  roll  should  never  be  covered 
with  any  ibedding,  under  any  circum- 
stances. In  loading  the  crab  the  top 
roll  should  be  allowed  to  rest  on  the 
bottom  roll  for  the  first  three  or  foiur 
laps  in  order  to  give  the  cloth  a 
start.  'If  loaded  this  way  no  difficulty 
is  experienced  in  starting. 

The  crabbing  process  in  itself  is  very 
simple.  The  tank  is  filled  up  with 
water  and  this  wat-er  is  then  brought 
to  a  boil.  If  live  steam  is  used,  care 
should  be  taken  that  the  first  steam 
that  enters  the  water  should  be  clean, 
as  there  is  a  liiab'ility  for  rust  to  form 
in  the  pipe,  which  might  be  ejected 
into  the  water  when  the  steam  valve 
is  opened,  thus  hurting  the  goods 
permanently  if  not  laltogether  ruining 
them. 

After  the  water  has  come  to  a  boil, 
the  steam  is  turned  off  and  the  cloth 
is  immersed  and  wound  onto  the  roll. 
About  three  or  four  minutes  are  con- 
sumed in  winding  the  goods  onto  the 
roll,  after  which  the  plug  is  pulled  out 
and  the  hot  water  allowed  to  run  away. 
This  is  the  process  with  a  single  bowl 
crabbing  machine,  and  the  principle  is 
the  same  with  any  number  of  bowls. 

OF  INTEREST  TO  FINISHERS. 

With  cotton  warp  goods  an  interest- 


ing thing  should  be  noted.  In  run- 
ning from  the  loading  drum  to  the  first 
bo'wl,  by  increasing  the  tension,  the 
filling  is  thrown  more  to  the  face,  thus 
serving  to  hide  to  some  extent  the 
''union"  appearance  of  the  material. 
From  the  crab  the  cloth  is  run  over 
a  stretcher  on  to  the  steamer,  which 
consists  of  a  hollow  roll,  with  very 
small  apertures  through  whicih  live 
steam  is  blown  and  forced  through  the 
cloth.  There  are  usually  about  four 
men  on  a  double  crab,  and  in  large 
mills  where  there  are  a  great  number 
of  crabbing  machines,  there  should  be 
a  separate  steamer.  A  fancy  worsted 
is  seldom,  if  ever,  crabbed. 

Different  fabrics  are  treated  in  dif- 
ferent ways  during  the  crabbing  and 
steaming.  For  insitance,  a  panama 
561/^  inebes  in  widith,  is  run  'tih rough 
the  first  bowl  'of  boiling  water 
with  no  top  roll  pressure,  and  run 
under  a  fair  tension,  onto  the  first 
roll.  When  this  shell  is  loadeid  the 
water  is  run  away,  and  the  cloth  pas- 
ses through  the  secoind  bo'wl  onto  the 
roll  there  under  a  very  light  tension. 
It  is  then  run  for  four  or  five  minutes 
in  the  boiling  water  with  no  top  roll 
pressure  after  which  it  is  run  onto 
the  steamer.  After  the  crabbing  the 
ciot'h  will  be  found  to  have  shrunk 
to  52%  inches.  It  is  then  steamed  for 
eight  minutes  at  about  three  pound 
pressure,  after  which  it  is  dolly  wash- 
ed, and  again  crabbed  in  one  bowl 
with  iboiling  water  and  no  top  roll 
pressure.   There  are 

VARIOUS  METHODS 

for  crabbing  a  lustre.  The  oiperation  is 
as  follows:  The  cloth  is  run  through 
the  boiling  -w^ater  in  the  first  bowl 
under  a  fair  amount  of  tension,  with 
the  top  roll  down  all  through  the 
operation,  with  no  extra  weight  on  the 
top  roll.  From  the  first  bowl  the  fabric 
passes  to  the  second,  where  the 
same  operation  is  repeated.  Then  the 
cloth  passes  onto  the  steam  shell  un- 
der a  light  tension,  wherr      is  steam- 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


67 


ed  for  jijbout  t-en  minutes  at  four 
pounds  pressure. 

Tn  crabbing  Sicilianis,  the  operatioin 
is  somewhat  different.  The  cloth  is 
run  through  the  boiling  water  in  the 
first  bowl  under  a  fair  tension,  with 
the  top  roll  down  and  no  extra  weight. 
The  operation  in  the  second  bowl  is 
the  same  as  the  first.  The  cloth  is 
then  rolled  onto  the  steam  shell  and 
is  then  treated  to  a  second  crabbing, 
by  being  passed  back  to  the  first  crab, 
through  the  boiling  water,  under  a 
fair  tension,  and  with  no  top  roill  pres- 
sure, and  then  run  through  the  second 
crab  again,  where  the  water  instead 
of  boiling  should  have  a  temperature  of 
180  deigreeis  Pahrenheiit.  The  fabric  is 
then  run  onto  the  sJteam  shell  where  it 
iis  steamed  for  eight  minuteis  at  four 
pound  pressure.  As  an  illustration 
of  the  shrinking  or  contraction  on  the 
crab,  a  ceirtain  Sicilian  was  56  inch- 
es wide  beifore  crabbing,  but  after  going 
through  the  first  crab  it  was  52  inches 
wide,  and  when  the  second  crabbing 
operation  was  finished  it  was  50^/^ 
inches  in  width.  This  shrinking  in 
width,  of  course,  gave  the  fabric  a  good 
set,  which  was  the  object  of  the  crab- 
bing process. 

With  Iitaliian's,  w'hich  arei  used  as 
linings,  a  very  high  lustre  is  required. 
The  crabbing  process  is  much  the 
same  as  the  methoid  for  crabbing  lus- 
tres, except  that  a  strong  pressure  is 
necessary  in  order  to  proiduce  the  high 
lustre,  so  eissential  'to  this  iform  of 
goods. 

For  goods  that  require  a  set,  but  in 
which  no  lustre  is  necessary,  a  con- 
tinuoius  wet  finishing  machine  is  used, 
the  cloth  running  through  the  four  or 
five  bowls  in  this  machine  the  first 
bowl  containing  boiling  water  and  the 
second  bowl  water  aJt  180  degrees 
FlaJhrenhelt,  and  so  on  down  !to  the 
lasit  bowl  which  has  cold  water.  Often- 
times the  first  bowl  in  this  continuous 
wet  finisher  is  used  as  a  mild  soap- 
ing bowl.  No.  52. 


KERSEYS,  MELTONS  AND 
BEAVERS. 


The  card  stripping  improvement  un- 
der suggestion  number  49  in  your  is- 
sue of  Fe'bruary  10,  1910,  is  good.  The 
device  can  be  used  on  woolen  cards 
where  short  stocks  are  carded  more 
particularly.  The  Davis  &  Furtoer  peo- 
ple groved  the  loose  pulley  for  this 
purpose  some  years  ago.  The  device 
not  only  cleans  but  tends  to  keep  the 
tooth  smooth  if  adjusted  and  handled 
with  care  and  right  clothing  used  on 
stripper.  Set  stand  'bearings  on  fancy 
stands.  It  only  takes  a  very  few  min- 
utes to  adjust,  clean  and  take  down. 

Second,  as  to  the  article  over  signa- 
ture of  number  50,  same  issue  as 
above,  I  should  like  to  see  a  melton 
sample  shown  to  the  trade  and  finished 
as  stated  if  such  can  be  secured. 
Would  you  kindly  have  the  same  mail- 
ed to  me? 

KERSEYS  AND  BEAVERS. 
1  have  always  taken  a  great  interest 
in  the  finish  of  kerseys  and  beavers, 
particularly  made  from  manipulated 
stocks.  There  should  be  to-day  a  great 
market  for  these  goods  of  American 
make.  For  the  average  man  an  over- 
coat made  from  this  fabric  is  far  su- 
perior for  durability,  warmth  and  good 
styling  at  all  times — none  (better  than 
a  kersey  finis'h  garment.  It  is  easy  to 
keep  clean  and  can  be  made  to  meet 
the  pocketbook  of  all.  In  building 
this  fabric  we  commence  with  mungo 
and  short  stocks  of  wool  grading,  se- 
lected and  manipulated  in  the  blend 
room,  with  full  attention  given  in  the 
carding  room.  Do  not  get  away  from 
the  old  system  of  carding;  then  from 
this  study  and  apply  the  modern 
devices  and  attachments.  With  all 
this  "Careful  attention  must  be  en- 
forced"  and  each  blend  carded  on  its 
merits,  making  each  day  a  study  in 
itself.    Changing  of  conditions  of  the 


68 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS  AND 


SUGGESTIONS 


atmsophere  might  throw  this  depar^ 
ment  out,  causing  the  spinning  de- 
partment  endless  trouble.  Many  card- 
ers and  spinners  work  together  for 
their  own  interest.  Product  and  qual- 
ity is  a  side  issue.  For  a  full  under- 
growth and  to  keep  away  from  that 
so-called  hungry  appearance  on  face 
finish  of  American  goods,  draft  the 
yarn,  not  perhaps  to  the  extreme  limit 
but  enough  to  make  the  yarn  have  a 
full  woolly  appearance.  In  so  doing 
the  kersey  has  its  first  start  in  a  short, 
close,  thick  bottom. 

A  GOOD  RULE. 

A  good  rule  and  figure  is  to 
draft  kersey  yarn  in  the  ratio 
of  10  to  15.  This  is  an  old  time 
rule  and  stands  good.  With  this  at- 
tention the  yarn  does  not  need  the 
unnecessary  twist  for  weaving  or 
strength  as  it  is  very  elastic.  With 
even  work  on  the  loom  and  a  machine 
in  every  particular  adjusted  rightly, 
the  fabric  taken  from  a  loom  with  the 
above  attention  has  a  good  start  for 
perfection  In  the  finishing  department. 
Careful  inspection  at  this  stage  is  nec- 
essary In  the  burling,  sewing,  etc, 
Fulling  and  gigging  will  be  much  more 
easily  accomplished  with  the  fabric 
made  from  yarn  as  above  than  other- 
wise. Aiso  in  steam  lustering,  with 
care  on  the  part  of  the  man  in  charge 
on  a  P.  &  W.  steam  lustering  ma- 
chine, the  finisher  will  be  surprised 
with  the  results,  when  yarn  has  been 
given  attention  and  study.  Many  er- 
rors are  charged  up  to  the  finishing 
department  that  rightly  belong  to  card- 
ing and  spinning  of  the  yarns. 

I  will  not  go  into  details  of  each 
machine  In  departments.  My  princi- 
pal object  is  to  induce  those  in  charge, 
and  who  are  interested  in  the  fabric 
in  question,  to  step  to  the  carding  and 
spinning  departments  to  rectify  many 
losses  on  sales  of  fabric. 

We  might  write  pages  of  interest 
along  this  line  that  would  apply  to 
many  fabrics  in  the  woolen  line. 

No.  53. 


HOW  TO  RUN  A  WEAVE 
ROOM. 


The  first  thing  to  do  is  to  see  that 
the  cotton  is  opened  one  or  two  days 
before  it  goes  to  the  pickers  and  cards. 
The  carder  must  look  after  his  work 
closely  in  order  to  avoid  singlings  or 
doublings,  and  send  all  the  work  in 
good  shape  to  the  spinner. 

You  should  require  the  spinner  to 
give  you  the  best  yarn  that  can  pos- 
sibly be  made  for  the  numbers  you 
have  to  weave. 

Have  all  spooling  and  warping  first 
class  in  every  respect.  That  is  one 
of  the  greatest  troubles  on  a  Draper 
loom.  The  spoolers  will  turn  the  yarn 
loo'se  too  quickly  after  tying  a  knot 
and  it  kinks;  then,  when  it  goes  to 
the  loom,  it  will  draw  out  and  stop  it 

The  man  who  has  charge  of  the 
slashers  should  keep  right  in  behind 
the  warpers.  Do  not  allow  him  to  let 
any  bad  work  go.  Require  him  to  run 
a  good  split  warp  with  no  loose  ends 
or  draw-backs. 

THE  FIRST  THING. 

The  first  thing  I  do,  when  I  take 
charge  of  a  weave  room  is  to  go  over 
the  room  and  see  that  all  looms  are 
level,  next  to  see  if  all  parts  are  ad- 
justed right,  and  harnesses  trimmed 
to  suit  the  goods  I  am  to  make. 

There  are  many  different  ways  to 
set  up  your  hoop  rolls  to  suit  different 
work. 

It  is  necessary  to  get  good  fixers 
and  have  them  to  do  their  work  and 
keep  up  with  it  at  all  times.  The 
weavers  should  stay  in  their  own  al- 
leys, watch  the  wor'k,  keep  all  machin 
ery  clean  and  properly  oiled.  Have 
all  of  your  help  to  take  care  of  all  sup- 
plies and  waste.  Teach  them  to  save 
everything  just  as  if  it  were  theirs. 
Show  them  that  the  idea  is  to  get  the 
best  price  for  their  work. 

BELTS  AND  THE  HELP. 

Look  after  lall  belts  and  keep  them 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


69 


tight.  Have  a  man  to  clean  all  loom 
belts  twice  each  week. 

Impress  on  the  hands  the  need  of 
being  at  their  work  on  time  and  start- 
ing their  looms  when  the  whistle 
bio  Wis. 

Treat  the  help  in  a  friendly  manner 
but  not  familiarly. 

Keep  your  loom  fixers  instructed  at 
all  times  in  the  way  to  get  the  best 
results,  and  see  that  the  instructions 
are  carried  out. 

All  work  together,  and  every  thing 
will  go  along  all  O.  K.  No.  54. 


DEFECTS  IN  COTTON 
CARDING. 


To  find  defects,  it  is  necessary  that 
the  overseer  should  be  the  centrifugal 
force  that  drawis  everything  to  the 
centre  of  the  room's  welfare,  then  he 
will  have  a  homogeneous  service 
throughout  the  room,  which  will  radi- 
ate a  power  that  will  keep  the  enitire 
force  of  help  pointing  out  defects. 
ONE  COMMON  DEFECT. 

One  common  defect  in  a  card  room, 
which  the  writer  claims  is  the  basis 
of  weak  yarn,  is  to  have  a  lap  of  cot- 
ton as  it  leaves  the  finisher  picker  con- 
tain fibres  tangled,  caused  by  a  dull 
beater,  thus  not  allowing  the  impuri- 
ties to  escape. 

Keep  your  beaters  well  sharpened 
(not  to  a  knife  edge)  in  order  to  oipen 
the  coitton  properly.  Take  the  beater 
O'Ut  when  dull  and  have  it  planed  by 
one  who  knows  how,  and  see  that  it  is 
properly  balanced  before  replacing. 

Cotton  that  is  not  properly  opened 
will  disarrange  the  wire  on  the  card 
cylinder  (especially  if  the  cylinder  is 
covered  with  rib-set  fillet)  with  the 
reisiult  that  the  wire  will  be  raised  and 
come  in  conltact  with  each  working  top 
every  reivoliutdon  of  the  cylinder,  thus 
forming  what  is  termed  a  hoiok  on  all 
high  wires,  w'hioh  holds  the  fibres  they 


act  upon,  and  carries  them  around  a 
se<3ond  time  or  more,  'thus  injuring  and 
breaking  them. 

PLOUGH   GROUND  WIRE. 

Anoither  defect  is  hiaving  the  wire 
plough  gro'und  only  on  one  side  of  tlie 
point,  Which  iis  the  case  with  most  card 
clotiMng. 

If  you  are  a  skeptic  on  this  point, 
examinei  your  wire  with  a  proper  g'lass, 
and  you  will  be  coinvinced  by  a  glanee 
alt  the  point  that  you  are  getting  only 
ome-half  the  benefit  of  ploug'h  ground 
w^ire. 

Ajs  we  undersitand  it,  ploiugh  ground 
wire  is  to  be  preferred,  o^n  accoiunt  of 
its  s'harp  sides  having  a  better  oppor- 
tunity of  holding  the  fibres  until  they 
are  straightened  whein  ploiugh  gro'und, 
but  why  give  us  only  one-hialf  the  ben- 
efit? Surely,  if  one  side  is  a  benefit, 
plough  grinding  both  sides  is  better. 

ALLOWING  LAP  TO  RUN  OUT. 

Anoither  btid  defect  is  allowing  a  lap 
to  run  out.  Every  overs eer  sho'uld 
brand  this  as  a  crime,  bieeause  muoh 
damage  is  done'  by  this  oarelessaiess, 
as  it  is  liahle  to  blister  the  cylinder, 
and  punoture  the  screen.  Sometimes 
it  will  raise  the  edge  of  the  filleit  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  allow  some  of 
the  teeth  to  find  their  way  under  the 
clothing,  thus  raising  the  clothing  and 
making  a  high  place,  dippinig  into  the 
fiats  at  eivery  revoiliution  of  the  cylin- 
der. Thiis  trouble  should  be  deiteoted 
by  the  overseer,  or  grinder,  becaruise  a 
streak  of  one  or  more  inches  wide  will 
appear  on  the  flats,  owing  to  the  cotton 
clinging  to  the  injured  points  of  wire 
of  the  flats,  thus  miaking  a  large 
amount  of  neps.  A  high  place  on  the 
cylinder  will  also  wetar  ithe  screens. 

A  stop  motion  attachmemt  to  pre'vemt 
the  lap  from  running  out  is  the  only 
remedy,  and  wo'uld  save  the  otothins- 
and  also  prevenit  the  disarrangemenit 
of  the  settings,  thus  making  better 
work. 

STRIPPING  THE  CARDS. 
Another    defect   is    sWppin'g  the 


70 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


cards  all  together  and  having  all  the 

light  work  that  thiis  oiociatsio[ns  running 
im  togeither,  at  the  baiok  iof  the  first 
process  of  draiwing. 

Strip  one-fifth  of  your  cards  every 
hour,  and  you  will  have  much  evener 
yarn.  Another  defect  is  one  of  running 
different  lengths  of  sltaple  w^th  the 
same  nose  feed  piiaie. 

The  most  imporJtant  ploinit  about  a 
oard,  when  running  different  lengths  of 
istaple,  is  the 

CHANGING  OP  THE  PEED  PLATE 

to  accoimmodaite  the  length  of  the  sta- 
ple run.  The  distance  between  the  bite 
of  the  feed  roll  and  (the  point  w^here 
the  ooitton  is  freed  by  coming  in  ooin- 
tacit  with  the  teeth  of  the  licker  should 
be  ome-eighth  of  an  inch  longer  than 
the  average  length  of  the  staple. 

Some  mills  use  long  sitock  and  make 
weak  yarn,  on  account  of  using  a  short 
nose  plate,  because  the  long  stock  re- 
mains gripped  for  a  longer  period  than 
tihe  shoi't  'Stoick,  according  to  rthe 
length  of  staple.  Thus,  the  longer 
fiibres  are  injured  or  broken,  and  a 
great  deal  of  waste  is  made.  This  also 
prevents  efficient  work  being  done, 
causing  a  greater  strain  on  the  other 
working  parts  of  the  card. 

The  setting  of  the  feed  plate  from 
the  licker  is  given  by  most  writers  and 
machine  companies  as  12-1000  to  20- 
1000,  but  they  give  no  reason  for  this 
alloiwance,  and  it  is  sO'  misunders'tood 
that  I  deem  it  neeesislary  to  explain 
it  here. 

Many  conceive  .the  ideia  that  it  Is 
the  quality  of  the  cotton  that  deter- 
mines the  setting  of  the  feed  pilate, 
while  it  is  the  weight  of  the  lap  that 
should  be  considered. 

The  tihicker  the  sheeit  of  lap  the 
wider  the  settinig.  Biut  a  carder  will 
receive  more  benefiit  from  a  light  lap 
and  the  feed  pl'ate  sett  at  12-1000,  be- 
cause a  heavy  lap  with  wide  settings 
offers  facilitieis  for  the  prioductiion  of 
a  lumpy  sliver,  making  it  possible  for 
the  licker  to  pluck  large  tufts  of  cot- 
ton at  this  point    This  is  the  reason 


why  mosit  miachine  builders  advocate 
getting  the  work  from  the  card  more 
rapidly,  thus  ensuring  a  shorter  draft 
on  the  card,  and  removing  the  strain 
on  it  he  points  of  the  cylinder  wire, 
caused  by  a  long  draft  and  bulky  lap. 

A  LIGHT  LAP. 

A  light  lap  enaibles  the  licker  to 
take  the  fibres  sufficiently  loose,  and 
permits  a  constiant  attention  at  this 
point,  while  a  heavy  lap  allows  tufts 
of  ithe  coitton  to  escape,  making  the 
draft  irregular  and  causing  an  uneven 
sliver.  A  light  lap  has  many  less 
fibres  to  be  acted  upon  to  the  inch, 
thus  the  succession  of  licker  teeth 
passing  ithrougih  the  fringe  of  less 
fibres  hanging  downward  causes  much 
more  of  impurities  to  be  extracted 
with  less  resistance,  and  makes  a 
cleaner  sliver  at  the  front  of  the  card. 

PROPER  CLOTHING. 

Another  defect  is  not  covering  a 
card  with  proper  clothing.  When 
cards  are  clothed,  the  quality  of  yarn 
to  be  run  should  be  considered.  For 
coarse  work,  the  twilled  fillet  is  pre- 
ferred on  account  of  thei  stronger 
edges.  However,  for  medium  and  fine 
work  the  cylinder  and  doffer  are  usu- 
ally covered  with  rib-set  fillet. 

Another  defect  lies  in  the  use  of 
metallic  rolls.  They  are  not  given 
space  enough  between  the  rolls  in 
most  mills. 

In  setting  metallic  rolls,  there  is  one 
broad  principle  that  must  always  be 
followed,  as  on  all  other  rolls,  that  is, 
the  distance  hetween  the  bite  of  each 
pair  of  rolls  must  always  exceed  the 
average  length  of  the  staple  being 
used,  and  that  high  speeded  rolls  re- 
quire wider  settings  than  those  having 
a  slower  speed.  Then 

SETTING  METALLIC  ROLLS 

the  distance  determined  by  the  length 
of  the  staple;  should  be  measured  from 
the  bite  of  the  roll  and  not  from  cen- 
tre to  centre  as  on  leather  covered 
rolls.    For  one^inch  cotton  with  a  60 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


71 


grain  sliver,  the  distance  between  the 
first  and  second  roll,  centre  to  cenitre, 
should  ibe  I14  inches.  Tlhis  will  make 
the  distance  from  the  bite  of  each  roll 
(first  and  second)  1%  inches. 

Many  carders  conceive  the  idea  that 
the  bite  of  metallic  rolls  is  at  the  bo't- 
tom  of  the  centre  flute,  so  they  have 
the  same  distance  between  metallic 
rolls  as  on  leather  covered  toUs,  thus 
producing  a  stringy  web  and  injuring 
the  fibres. 

The  top  rolls  are  positively  driven 
by  the  fiutes  of  the  lower  rolls  mesh- 
ing with  the  flutes  of  the  upper  rolls. 
They  revolve  on  coHlars  which  prevent 
them  from  coming  into  too  close  con- 
tact. If  'the  collars  did  not  keep  the 
rolls  partly  separated,  the  fibres  would 
be  damiaged  by  the  contact  of  the 
flutes.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
bite  of  the  rolls  is  on  the  side,  and 
not  in  the  centre  of  the  roll,  also  on 
the  side  of  the  flute,  and  not  at  the 
bottom.  Another  defect  in  the 
using  of  metallic  rolls.  is  not 
having  tihem  properly  weighted.  Four- 
teen pounds  is  given  as  the  proper 
weight  on  each  roll,  but  thiis  weighting 
gives  very  poor  resMts.  The  flutes  of 
the  back  rolls  are  of  a  coarser  (pitch, 
owning  to  the  greater  bulk  of  cotton 
that  comes  under  their  action,  and 
should  be  weighted  with  18-pound 
weights.  The  third  roll  has  24  flutes, 
and  should  be  weighted  with  16-pound 
weights.  The  second  roll  has  32  flutes, 
and  should  be  weigihted  with  16-pound 
weights.  The  front  roll  'has  the  same 
number  of  flutes  as  'the  second  roll, 
but  is  weighted  with  a  12-pound  weight 
instead  of  a  16-pound  weig^ht. 

THtE  REASON 

for  this  is  that  more  weight  is  re- 
quired on  the  second  roll  to  insure 
a  fiirmer  grip  on  the  cotton,  which  is 
necessary  in  order  to  have  a  positive 
draft.  Some  prefer  to  have  the  heavi- 
est weight  on  the  front  roll,  claiming 
that  as  this  roll  revolves  at  the  highest 
speed,  more  weight  is  required  in  or- 
der to  keep  it  steady. 


When  a  top  roll  jumps,  whether  it 
is  a  common  or  a  metallic  roll,  the  only 
remedy  is  to  have  the  weights  sus- 
pended by  springs  or  strong  banding, 
which  will  serve  as  a  cushing,  and  the 
roll  will  run  steady,  if  iproperly  cov- 
ered, if  leather  rolls  are  used. 

Metallic  rolls  should  not  revolve 
over  450  revolutions  per  minute,  and 
if  kept  within  this  speed,  they  will 
run  steady. 

Another  defect,  is  having  a  heavy 
finished  dnawing  sliver.  I  have  seen 
carders  running  their  finished  drawing 
sliver  as  Hieavy  as  70  grains  per  yard. 
There  is  nothing  more  detrimental  to 
good  spinning  than  a  heavy  finished 
drawing  sliver. 

Never  have  your  finished  drawing 
sliver  heavier  than  60  grains  per  yard, 
in  a  print  cloth  mill. 

DRAFT. 

To  make  a  good  even  compact  rov- 
ing, have  a  draft  of  80  on  your  card, 
making  a  50  grain  sliver,  with  the 
doffer  itraveling  82  feet  per  minute. 
Have  la  draft  of  4.70  on  your  ifirst  head 
of  drawing,  making  a  60  grain  sliver. 
On  your  second  head,  have  a  draft  of 
5.35,  making  a  62  grain  sliver.  On 
your  last  head  have  a  draft  of  5.88, 
making  a  60  grain  sliver.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  the  above  drafts  are 
given  for  metallic  rolls.  The  overlap 
caused  by  the  meshing  makes  the  ac- 
tual draft  longer  than  the  figured  draft. 
A  good  rule  is  to  add  9  per  cent  to  the 
figured  draft,  to  obtain  the  iactual  draft. 
Make  a  .60  hank  roving  on  your  slub- 
ber, 1.65  hank  on  your  intermediate 
to  miake  4.50  fine  roving. 

CANS. 

Having  the  cans  lat  the  back  of  a 
drawinig  emptying  out  together  at  each 
delivery  is  a  defect  that  causes  more 
uneven  yarn  than  any  other  defect, 
and  you,  Mr.  Reader,  if  you  are  a  mill 
manager  or  overseer,  go  to  your  draw- 
ing frame  and  weigh  a  sliver  when  all 
the  cans  running  into  one  delivery  are 
emptying  all  together;  then  weigh  the 


T2 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


sliver  from  fulll  cans,  and  you  will  be 
convinced  lat  once,  that  what  I  have 
pointed  out  is  true.  The  cans  at  the 
back  of  the  frame  should  be  arranged 
so  that  they  will  be  emiptied  at  difCer- 
enit  intervals. 

WEIIGHING  DEUIVER'IBS. 

Another  defect  is  weighing  all  the  de- 
liveries of  one  head  together,  placing 
them  on  a  measuring  board,  then 
cutting  and  weighing  in  a  bulk.  In 
this  case  the  bad  work  of  a  single  de- 
livery is  not  discovered — caused  by  a 
lap  on  the  back  rolls  or  the  rolls  not 
being  properly  oiled,  or  ,the  weight 
hooks  havimg  been  disturbed,  or  one 
of  the  deliveries  not  'having  the  proper 
number  of  slivers  at  the  biack.  If  the 
slivers  are  weighed  separately  and  any 
of  the  above  defects  should  exist,  the 
sliver  will  be  either  too  light  or  too 
heavy,  and  the  rolls  producing  a  sliver 
not  of  standard  weight,  should  be  giv- 
en immediate  attention  in  order  to  lo- 
cate the  cause. 

Another  bad  and  costly  defect  is 
in  not  giving  the  top  leather  rolls 
proper  care.  Examine  the  flute  of  a 
front  steel  roll  that  bas  run  a  few 
years,  and  you  will  find  that  the  lead- 
ing side  of  the  flute  is  dull,  wbile  the 
other  is  much  sharper.  Now  imagine 
that  unnecessary  friction  is  caused 
by  a  worn  saddle  or  a  dirty  roll,  or 
by  the  roll  not  being  oiled  properly, 
and  you  will  agree  that  the  grain  of 
the  leather  roll  being  rubbed  by  the 
sharp  side  of  the  worn  flute  of  the 
front  roll  will  wear  the  grain  of  the 
top  leather  roll  enough  to  make  it 
very  rough,  and  cause  the  end  to 
continually  lap  around  the  front  leath- 
er roll  (much  more  on  the  ring 
frame),  forming  a  lap  on  one  boss 
that  will  eventually  cause  the  break- 
ing of  the  end  on  the  other  boss,  be- 
sides spoiling  many  rolls. 
SETTING  TOP  LEATHER  ROLLS. 

Another  defect  is  having  the  front 
top  leather  rolls  set  on  the  centre  of 
the  bottom  steel  roll.  Top  leather 
rolls  should  be  set  a  little  forward 


of  the  centre  of  the  bottom  steel  roll. 
Tbis  will  not  only  reduce  the  friction 
of  the  top  leather  roll,  but  it  will  also 
keep  the  leather  roll  in  place  and  will 
not  cause  that  backward  and  forward 
movement  when  the  frame  is  started 
or  stopped. 

SHARP  BEND  OP  FLYERS. 

Another  defect  is  the  sharp  ben  a 
found  at  the  head  of  most  flyers  in 
use,  and  also  the  sharp  turn  from  the 
bottom  end  of  the  hollow  leg  to  the 
presser  of  the  flyer,  which  causes 
much  friction  or  abrasion  on  the 
strand  of  roving.  This  sharp  bend 
should  be  removed  and  the  length  of 
the  hollow  leg  of  the  flyer  should  be 
cut  away,  so  as  to  increase  the  length 
of  the  presser  a  distance  below  the 
hollow  leg  of  the  flyer,  and  so  con- 
structed to  convey  the  strand  to  the 
eye  of  the  presser,  and  at  the  same 
time,  have  the  proper  number  of  turns 
wound  around  the  presser.  It  must  be 
seen  that  a  new  style  presser  must  be 
attached  to  the  flyer. 

BOBBINS. 

Another  defect,  found  in  most  card- 
ing rooms,  is  having  bobbins  of  dif- 
ferent diameters  running  on  the  same 
frame. 

This  causes  a  great  loss  in  produc- 
tion, because  the  surface  speed  of  the 
front  roll  and  the  excess  surface 
speed  of  the  bobbin  over  the  flyer 
should  be  equal,  and  if  bobbins  of 
different  diameters  are  used,  the 
relationship  of  the  surface  speed 
of  the  bobbin,  and  the  surface 
speed  of  the  front  roll  is  destroyed, 
on  all  bobbins  not  having  a  proper 
diameter,  thus  causing  some  ends  to 
become  too  tight,  or  too  slack,  mak- 
ing waste,  and  in  many  cases  the 
bobbin  is  removed,  thus  losing  pro- 
duction. 

When  ordering,  care  should  be  tak- 
en to  obtain  the  proper  size  of  the 
bobbin  by  using  calipers;  also  see 
that  the  top  of  the  bobbin  fits  the 
spindle  properly  because  if  the  in- 
side of  the  bobbin  is  too  large,  it  will 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


73 


shake  and  raise  on  the  bobbin,  break- 
ing the  end  or  strand  of  roving. 

CREELING. 

Another  defect  is  in  creeling. 
Some  carders  allow  speeder  tenders 
to  put  in  all  full  roving  when  creeling. 
The  proper  way  to  creel  is  to  have 
a  full  roving  running  in  with  a  half- 
full  roving.  This  will  preclude  the 
possibility  of  two  light  ends  running 
in  together,  because  when  the  work 
begins  to  come  in  light  and  you  creel 
all  full  roving  doffed  off  the  same 
frame,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  re- 
sult will  be  very  light  and  uneven 
work  that  will  cause  bad  warping. 

FILLING  BOBBINS  ON  SPEEDERS. 

Another  defect  is  to  not  fill  the 
bobbins  properly  on  all  speeders,  this 
causing  more  doffing  and  more  run- 
ning out  in  the  after  process.  Have 
all  your  spindles  leveled,  and  then 
set  your  lifting  rail  or  carriage  so 
that  the  shoulders  of  the  bobbin  will 
just  touch  the  presser  at  the  com- 
pletion of  each  traverse,  and  have  a 
taper  of  30  degrees  on  all  full  bob- 
bins. Bobbins  not  properly  filled,  re- 
quire more  creeling  and  more  creel- 
ing means  more  work  and  also  more 
waste,  because  a  certain  amount  of 
roving  is  pulled  off  each  bobbin  when 
creeling.  Some  overseers  allow 
speeder  tenders  to  cut  a  lea  or  two 
off  the  bobbin.  Overseers  should 
brand  cutting  off  pieces 

A  CRIME 

because  this  practice  makes  more 
waste,  injures  the  stock  and  spoils 
the  bobbins. 

A  4.50  hank  roving  having  2.54  turns 
to  the  inch,  should  make  3.15  sets 
per  day  of  ten  hours,  or  9.3  hanks  per 
spindle,  or  33.12  ounces  on  the  spin- 
dle. 

Now,  Mr.  Reader,  if  you  have 
charge  of  speeders  weigh  one  full 
bobbin  of  4.50  hank  roving,  and  if 
you  find  that  it  will  weigh  only  a 
little  over  TO  ounces,  construct  your 


bobbin  as  I  suggest  and  your  bobbin 
will  then  weigh  11  ounces. 

The  average  time  for  a  10  ounce 
roving  to  run  out,  is  51  days,  (kinds 
of  stock  and  speeds  making  the  dif- 
ference) while  an  11  ounce  bobbin  will 
run  6  days  under  the  same  condi- 
tions. Thus  it  will  be  seen,  that  this 
is  a  great  benefit  to  the  spinning  be- 
cause less  creeling  means  less  work 
and  less  waste.  And  ring  spinners 
will  always  fiock  where  there  is  less 
work,  thus  more  help  is  obtained  un- 
der the  above  conditions. 

ANOTHER  DEFECT. 

Another  defect  is  in  not  giving  the 
top  of  the  spindles  proper  care. 
When  a  speeder  is  doffed,  the  flyers 
must  be  removed  on  all  modern 
frames. 

It  has  been  noticed  in  various  mills 
how  the  spindles'  tops  become  in  a 
bad  state,  due  to  the  dryness  of  the 
spindle  top  and  flyer.  In  some  cases, 
the  spindle  tops  and  flyers  will  be 
found  to  have  contracted  rust.  Spin- 
dles in  such  a  condition  make  the 
surface  of  the  spindle  tops  uneven 
in  a  short  time,  causing  vibration, 
with  the  result  that  the  flyers  will 
work  their  way  to  the  top  of  the 
spindles  in  the  above  condition,  thus 
falling  among  the  other  revolving 
flyers,  breaking  them  and  in  some 
cases  breaking  the  gears  and  bolters. 
The  flyers  should  be  swabbed  out 
every  four  weeks  and  the  spindle  tops 
should  be  oiled  every  Monday  morn- 
ing. Once  the  above  system  is  put 
into  practice  it  will  be  found  that 
the  flyer  bill  will  be  greatly  reduced, 
and  the  spindle  tops  always  in  good 
condition  and  free  from  rust. 
MOVING  PARTS   OF  CARRIAGE. 

Another  defect,  and  one  that  is 
most  neglected  is  in  not  giving 
proper  attention  to  the  slow  moving 
parts  of  the  carriage. 

In  most  mills  we  flnd  that  pulleys 
supporting  the  chain  and  weight  that 
balance  the  carriage  clogged  with 
dirt  and  not  having  been  oiled  for 


74 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


weeks,  also  the  slides  in  the  same 
condition.  When  the  pulleys  and 
slides  are  in  this  condition,  it  causes 
the  carriage  to  jump  and  also  causes 
a  dwell  at  the  end  of  every  comple- 
tion of  the  traverse,  thus  carrying 
unnecessary  strain  on  the  cone  belt. 

The  good  workings  of  the  bottom 
cone  depends  upon  a  small  piece  of 
belting,  that  is,  the  cone  belt,  and 
it  should  be  the  aim  of  all  persons 
having  charge  of  speeders  to  remove 
all  unnecessary  strain  upon  this  belt. 

Imagine  a  speeder  to  have  clogged 
pulleys,  due  to  not  having  been  oiled 
and  cleaned,  and  also  dry  slides. 
Think  of  the  unnecessary  strain  upon 
the  cone  belt  thus  causing  friction 
enough  to  retard  the  bottom  cone, 
also  bobbins,  thus  destroying  the  re- 
lationship of  the  surface  speed  of  the 
front  roll  and  the  surface  speed  of 
the  bobbin,  thus  causing  the  tension 
to  become  slack.  Again  imagine  the 
rack  gear  to  be  changed  to  increase 
the  tension.  This  change  will  tighten 
the  ends  and  the  rail  jumping  from 
the  want  of  cleaning  and  oiling,  will 
make  the  tension  irregular,  causing 
the  ends  to  be 

CONTINUALLY  SNAPPING 
at  the  eye  of  the  presser.  Now  im- 
agine a  frame  running  in  the  above 
condition  and  the  pulleys  and  slides 
to  be  cleaned  and  oiled.  It  will  be 
seen  that  the  unnecessary  strain  will 
be  removed  and  the  bottom  cone  will 
obtain  its  proper  speed,  and  as  the 
rack  gear  was  changed  to  accommo- 
date this  unnecessary  friction  upon 
the  bottom  cone,  the  ends  will  be 
strained  and  the  rack  gear  taken  off 
must  be  replaced. 

OILING. 

All  slow  moving  parts  of  the  car- 
riage should  be  oiled  every  Monday 
morning,  even  the  links  of  the  chain 
should  get  a  little  oil.  If  the  slow 
moving  parts  of  the  carriage  receive 
the  proper  care,  it  will  be  found  that 
the  leas  will  be  wound  on  the  bobbin 
more  evenly,  thus  making  the  tension 


more  regular,  thus  stopping  that  snap- 
ping of  the  ends  when  the  set  is 
nearly  full,  which  is  the  case  under 
the  conditions  described  above. 
Another  defect  is  in  the 

DIFFERENTIAL  MOTIONS 
now  in  use,  because  the  bot- 
tom cone  drives  the  bobbin  gears,  and 
as  the  steady  working  of  the  bottom 
cone  depends  upon  a  small  piece  of 
belting,  much  friction  is  caused 
throughout  the  set,  thus  affecting  the 
tension.  There  is  very  little  difference 
between  the  old  differential  motion 
and  the  so-called  new  differential  mo- 
tion. All  that  can  be  claimed  for  the 
new  differential  motion,  is  that  the 
large  amount  of  friction  caused  by  the 
bell  gear  sleeve  running  in  the  op- 
posite direction  to  that  of  the  driving 
shaft  is  removed.  Some  builders  have 
lately  applied  a  stationary  shell  to  sep- 
arate the  shaft  from  the  sleeve,  mak- 
ing the  old  differential  motion  as  good 
as  any  new  differential  motion  on  the 
market. 

Some  builders  claim  that  with  their 
new  differential  motion,  the  bottom 
cone  is  no  longer  a  driver,  and  they 
also  claim  that  the  friction  on  the 
driving  shaft  is  removed  by  having 
both  sleeves  and  periphery  revolving 
in  the  same  direction  as  the  driving 
shaft. 

CONE  DRIVEN. 
All  new  differential  motions  are 
cone  driven,  and  if  any  person  inter- 
ested doubts  my  statement,  discon- 
nect a  gear  in  the  train  of  gears  from 
the  bottom  cone  to  the  gear  driving 
the  differential  sleeve,  and  you  will 
find  that  the  differential  sleeve  will 
run  in  the  opposite  direction  to  that 
of  the  driving  shaft.  It  will  be  seen 
from  the  above  that  on  the  new  dif- 
ferential motion  the  friction  is  remov- 
ed  from  the  sleeve  and  added  to  the 
periphery,  also  that  the  bottom  cone 
is  called  on  to  hold  the  differential 
sleeve  against  the  friction  inside  the 
periphery  and  at  the  same  time  drive 
the  bobbins.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTJONS. 


75 


the  new  differential  motions  have  noth- 
ing on  the  old  differential  motions, 
having  a  stationary  shell  to  separate 
the  driving  shaft  from  the  bell  gear 
sleeve. 

BLAME  DIFFERENTIAL  MOTION. 

Some  writers  claim  that  machine 
builders  would  welcome  any  improve- 
ment over  the  method  now  in  use,  that 
is,  to  have  a  coneless  speeder.  This 
statement  may  be  true,  but  most  ma- 
chine builders,  whom  the  writer  has 
had  the  pleasure  to  meet,  blame  the 
differential  motion — and  they  are 
right.  What  causes  the  work  to  run 
so  badly  on  speeders  in  the  summer 
time?  The  answer  is  the  friction  on 
the  cone  belt  which  affects  the  ten- 
sion. Now  what  causes  this  friction? 
It  is  the  extra  weight  of  roving  that 
is  wound  on  the  bobbin,  that  causes 
this  friction,  because  as  the  bobbins 
increase  in  weight,  more  power  is  re- 
quired to  drive  them,  and  the  heavier 
the  bobbin  the  more  the  friction. 

We  have  heard  speeder  men  ask, 
why  is  it  that  slubber  cones  have  a 
different  shape  than  the  fine  speeder 
cones?  Because  the  weight  added  at 
each  layer  on  a  slubber  bobbin  is  much 
greater  than  on  a  fine  speeder,  owing 
to  the  hank  roving  being  so  much 
heavier. 

The  only  differential  motion  that 
will  give  a  uniform  tension  throughout 
the  set  will  be  one  wherein  the  cone 
belt  acts  as  a  governor  only.  After 
this  is  accomplished,  the  driving,  be- 
ing on  the  inside  of  the  periphery,  will 
make  it  possible  to  have  the  periphery 
act  as  a  collar  for  the  reception  of 
the  differential  sleeve,  so  that  as  the 
differential  sleeve  lags  behind  the 
periphery  at  the  end  of  each  comple- 
tion of  the  traverse,  the  speed  of  the 
collar  over  the  differential  sleeve  will 
be  increased  in  the  same  proportion 
as  the  weight  is  increased  on  the  bob- 
bins at  each  completion  of  the  trav- 
erse. It  will  be  seen  from  the  above 
that  with  such  a  device,  as  the  bob- 
bins increase  in  weight,  the  speed  of 


the  periphery  by  the  lagging  of  the 
differential  sleeve  is  increased  over 
that  of  the  differential  sleeve,  thus 
balancing  this  increased  weight  at  the 
completion  of  each  traverse  of  the 
bobbin,  and  we  have  a  uniform  tension 
throughout  the  set.  No.  55. 

DEFECTS  IN 

WOOL  CARDING. 


When  I  take  charge  of  a  strange 
room  I  look  it  all  over  carefully  and 
see  what  shape  it  is  in.  I  see  if  the 
grinders  are  in  good  shape.  If  not, 
I  put  them  in  shape  to  do  their  work 
rightly.  Then  take  one  set  down,  look 
it  all  over  carefully,  and  see  if  the 
clothing  is  all  right.  Take  out  the 
workers  and  strippers  on  first  breaker 
and  see  if  they  are  all  true.  If  not, 
take  off  the  clothing  and  turn  them 
up  and  replace  the  clothing.  Never 
grind  down  the  workers,  that  is,  out 
of  true.  Take  out  tumblers  and  see  if 
they  are  true  and  the  clothing  in  good 
shape.  Always  keep  tumblers  on 
breakers  clean  and  sharp.  If  allowed 
to  fill  up  and  get  dull  they  will  cause 
bad,  uneven  work  by  dropping  stock. 
Set  very  close  to  the  cylinder  with  32 
gauge.  Set  burr  cylinder  close  to  the 
tumbler. 

Clean  feed  rolls  and  set  to  burr 
cylinder.  Look  feed  over  and  put  in 
good  shape. 

IF  ON  HEAVY  WORK 

speed  the  doffer  up  and  feed  light  in- 
stead of  feeding  heavy.  On  coarse 
work,  if  you  grind  too  much  stock  in 
the  card,  it  cannot  card  out  in  good 
shape.  Grind  all  workers  and  strip- 
pers. Always  grind  light,  as  heavy 
grinding  is  bad  and  injures  the  card 
wire. 

We  will  look  over  the  cylinder  and 
doffer.  See  that  the  clothing  is  all 
tight  and  in  good  shape.    Grind  to  a 


76 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


good  smooth  point.  Put  card  together, 
belt  up.  Have  all  belts  tight  and  in 
good  shape;  then  set  card  and  start 
up  and  see  that  the  feed  boy  keeps 
his  feeds  filled  up  but  not  crowded. 
Never  let  them  run  down.  Keep  them 
filled  up  all  the  time  and  you  will  get 
good  results,  the  breakers  working 
finely.    Now  take 

SECOND  BREAKER 
and  put  in  same  shape.  Speed  doffer 
and  feed  light.  It  will  card  the  stock 
out  better  and  work  on  feed  much 
nicer  and  if  you  change  on  fine  work 
take  speed  off  and  feed  heavier  to 
make  a  gooa  drawing  and  not  too 
heavy,  as  light  drawing  is  best. 

Now  we  will  take  the  finisher  and 
take  out  the  rings.  Put  in  the  grinder 
and  start  up,  and  if  the  rings  are  shift- 
ed, as  is  often  the  case,  lay  out  a  good 
ring  board  and  take  up  packing  and 
run  up  rings  nicely  to  the  board  and 
take  some  good  fine  card  and  run  be- 
tween the  rings,  good  and  tight.  Then 
put  a  coat  of  glue  on  top  of  card  and 
that  will  harden  the  card  so  that  the 
rings  cannot  move.  Then  put  in  leath- 
er packing,  cutting  splices  carefully. 
Glue  the  spliced  parts  and  put  in  two 
tv/o-ounce  tacks  and  you  have  a  nice 
set  of  rings.  Put  in  grinders.  Run 
slowly  and  grind  very  lightly  until 
nice  and  smooth.  Take  a  fine  wire 
band  card  and  some  good  wool  and 
fill  card  and 

OIL  WELL. 
Keep  each  doffer  on  for  one-half  hour 
and  they  will  shed  the  stock  nicely 
and  evenly.  Look  over  the  condenser. 
See  that  drafts  are  all  right.  Keep 
aprons  clean  and  in  good  shape.  Nev- 
er allow  aprons  to  gloss  over  and 
get  hard  as  they  will  give  you  lots 
of  trouble  and  work.  Look  over  cylin- 
der on  finisher.  See  if  it  is  tight  and 
perfectly  true  and  grind  very  lightly. 
Take  out  the  tumbler  and  grind  to  a 
good  smooth  point.  Run  slowly,  set 
very  close  to  cylinder,  then  look  over 
leader.  See  if  it  is  all  right  and  in 
good  shape;  also  feed  rolls,  as  it  is 


very  important  to  have  both  in  good 
condition.  If  boxes  are  worn,  have 
them  babbitted  as  it  is  important  to 
set  very  close.  Then  put  together, 
belt  up,  and  set  for  the  work  you 
are  on,  and  start  up.  Have  carrier 
so  that  there  is  no  strain  at  either 
end  of  feed.  Take  six  ends  of  each 
end  of  spools  and  weigh  them.  If  one 
side  is  heavier  than  the  other,  speed 
up  spike  band  a  little  and  weigh 
again. 

WATCH  THE  HELP 
very  closely  and  see  that  they  do  the 
work  in  good  shape  and  keep  the  room 
clean  and  neat.  Avoid  making  waste. 
Have  cards  stripped  and  kept  clean. 
Keep  breaker  tumblers  clean  and 
sharp  and  you  will  save  one-fourth 
in  waste.  The  less  waste  you  make 
the  less  you  have  to  use  over  and 
the  work  will  be  stronger  and  smooth- 
er. Follow  this  up  and  defects  will 
vanish.  Always  have  good  fancies  as 
they  have  lots  to  do  in  giving  good 
work.  No.  56. 


PICKING,   CARDING  AND 
WEAVING. 


I  would  start  with  the  dyehouse  and 
suggest  two  dye  vats  to  do  the  work 
of  one,  as  there  is  too  much  stock 
crowded  into  one  dye  tub  to  get  it  out 
even  in  shade.  If  such  a  plan  was 
adopted,  there  would  be  less  complaint 
about  shaded  goods  in  the  finishing 
room.  Next  in  importance  is  the  pick- 
er house.  A  batch  is  laid  down  and  the 
picker  man  instructed  to  get  it 
through  as  quickly  as  possible  or  the 
cards  will  be  waiting.  It  would  be 
m.uch  better  in  the  end  to  let 
the  cards  stand  an  hour  or  two 
and  have  the  batch  properly  mixr 
ed  and  picked  before  going  to  the  card 
room  than  to  have  an  endless 
amount  of  trouble  afterward. 

PICKER  HOUSE. 

In  my  opinion,  the  picker  house  is  the 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


77 


most  neglected  department  in  the  mill, 
while  it  is  really  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant. Machine  builders  should  put 
on  their  thinking  cap  and  get  out  an 
improved  mixing  picker,  one  that  will 
regulate  the  quantity  of  stock  on  the 
feed  apron,  so  as  to  insure  a  more  even 
mixing  and  eliminate  all  injury  to  the 
stock  as  it  runs  through  the  picker. 
One  run  through  such  a  machine  would 
give  better  results  than  two  runs 
through  the  picker  that  is  in  use  to- 
day. As  the  feed  apron  is  loaded  with 
stock,  it  is  more  of  a  chopping  than  a 
mixing  process.  How  can  a  carder 
show  good  results  when  the  stock  is 
cut  up  and  injured  beyond  remedy  in 
the  picker  house  before  he  receives  it? 
CARD  ROOM. 
In  the  card  room  there  is  a  tendency 
to  overcrowd  the  cards  with  stock, 
and,  as  a  result,  the  roping  is  uneven, 
which  makes  uneven,  rough,  twitty 
and  tender  yarn.  The  spinning  is  bad 
with  small  production  and  an  extra 
amount  of  waste^  bad  spooling,  slow 
dressing,  poor  weaving  and  imperfect 
cloth,  with  work  accumulating  ahead 
of  the  finishing  room.  The  finisher  is 
rushed  with  work  and,  as  a  result,  he 
has  to  employ  extra  help  or  run  over- 
time to  catch  up  with  his  work.  With 
all  due  respect  to  the  finisher,  he  can 
never  make  imperfect  goods  from  the 
weave  room  compare  with  goods  made 
from  stock  which  has  been  carefully 
mixed  and  picked  and  run  through 
the  cards  without  crowding".  The  card- 
ing machines  of  to-day  have  not  suf- 
ficient carding  surface.  I  believe  that 
all  carding  machines  should  be  not  less 
than  60  inches  in  width.  The  first 
breaker  should  have  two  cylinders  in- 
stead of  one,  the  second  breaker  and 
the  finisher  one  cylinder  each,  as  at 
present,  but  larger  in  circumference  so 
as  to  have  more  wire.  Such  a  carding 
machine  would  certainly  do  splendid 
work,  as  the  stock  would  be  better  pre- 
pared on  the  first  breaker  for  the  sec- 
ond, and  the  sliver  from  the  second 
breaker  as  delivered  to  the  finisher 
card  would  be  in  such  fine  carded  con- 


dition that  the  roping  from  the  finisher 
would  be  even  and  regular,  and  would 
spin  better.  There  would  be  less  waste 
and  more  yarn  of  a  much  better  qual- 
ity. The  yarn  would  be  smoother  and 
stronger.  The  spooler  and  dresser 
would  take  off  more  work  with  less 
waste,  the  weaver  would  have  better 
production,  and  the  goods  on  reaching 
the  finishing  room  would  be  more  per- 
fect. There  would  be  a  better  skin  on 
the  face  of  the  goods  and  thus  they 
would  take  a  better  finish  and  the  fin- 
isher would  have  a  larger  production 
with  less  help. 

WEAVING  STAPLE  GOODS. 

Regarding  the  weaving  of  staple 
goods,  where  the  number  of  ends  would 
not  exceed,  say  1,800,  I  believe  it  is 
possible  for  machine  builders  to  make 
a  creel  to  stand  at  the  back  of  a  loom 
to  hold  small  spools  so  that  the  warp 
could  be  woven  direct  from  the  spools. 
Each  thread  would  be  a  separate  spool. 
The  creel  may  be  so  arranged  as  to 
take  up  about  the  space  of  one  loom. 
The  warp  would  be  endless,  as  when 
the  spools  would  run  out  a  boy  could 
tie  in  and  replace  the  empty  spool  with 
another  full  one.  There  could  be  a 
small  space  between  the  creel  and  the 
loom  so  that  the  weaver  could  examine 
the  warp  yarn.  The  threads  could  be 
put  through  a  reed  so  arranged  that 
a  lees  could  be  taken,  if  necessary,  at 
at  any  time.  This  reed  could  be  at- 
tached to  the  back  of  the  loom,  the 
warp  yarn  passing  through  this  reed 
at  the  same  width  that  the  warp  is 
set  in  the  reed  that  is  fixed  in  the 
lathe.  The  yarn  after  passing  through 
the  back  reed  could  go  over  and  under 
a  number  of  rolls  which  could  be  regu- 
lated with  a  lever  and  weights  on 
each  side  of  the  loom,  which  would 
regulate  the  tension  on  the  warp  yarn, 
so  as  to  suit  the  number  of  picks  that 
would  be  required  to  be  woven  into 
the  goods  per  inch.  Such  a  loom  would 
not  require  any  warp  beam,  dressing 
or  spooling. 

The  above  is  only  a  crude  suggestion 
in  which  machine  builders  of  looms 


78 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


may  find  something  for  future  develop- 
ment. No.  57. 

DEFECTS  IN  * 

RING  SPINNING. 


The  chief  defect  in  a  cotton  ring 
spinning  room  at  the  present  time  is 
poor  help. 

The  demand  of  the  manufacturer 
for  the  greatest  possible  production 
from  his  machines  causes  him,  in  the 
majority  of  cases,  to  lose  sight  of  the 
fact  that  the  help  in  this  department, 
is  much 

POORER  THAN  IT  WAS 
years  ago.  This  is  noticeable,  par- 
ticularly in  prosperous  times  when  the 
manufacturer  is  constantly  calling  for 
as  much  work  as  possible  from  his 
factory.  This  is.  natural  for  the  manu- 
facturer to  do,  as  increased  produc- 
tion means  larger  earnings,  but  in  a 
good  many  instances  this  is  carried  to 
extremes,,  and  no  doubt  is  responsible 
indirectly  for  the  poor  work  from  this 
department.  This  is  especially  true  of 
our  fine  goods  mills,  where  quality 
is  supposed  to  be  the  main  object  in 
view. 

The  only  remedy  for  the  above  de- 
fect is  that  instead  of  increasing  the 
speed  of  the  machines  to  get  more  pro- 
duction, more  machines  should  be  put 
in. 

ANOTHER  DEFECT 
common  in  a  cotton  ring  spinning 
room  is  having  the  ring  rail  travel- 
ing too  fast,  or,  in  other  words,  not 
having  the  proper  number  of  coils  to 
the  inch.  The  writer  has  in  mind  a  spin- 
ning room  where  the  ring  rails  were 
traveling  very  fast,  the  front  roll 
making  98  turns  per  minute,  runing 
28s  yarn  and  doffing  every  5i  hours. 
Since  I  visited  the  above  spinning 
room,  a  change  of  overseer  was  made. 


and  the  new  overseer  is  putting  66 
coils  to  the  inch  on  the  bobbin,  (which 
is  the  proper  number  of  coils  to  the 
inch  for  28s  yarn,  since  the  rule  for 
finding  the  coils  to  the  inch,  is  to  mul- 
tiply 12i  by  the  square  root  of  the 
yarn  (12 J  times  the  square  root  of  28 
equals  66  coils  to  the  inch) ;  speed  of 
the  front  roll  114  revolutions  per  min- 
ute running  28s  yarn,  and  doffing  every 
5|  hours. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  above,  that 
more  production  will  be  obtained  with 
the  same  amount  of  doffing,  and  that 
the  saving  in  the  spooling  room  is 
great. 

The  overseer  in  charge  convinced 
the  writer  that  he  gained  five  pounds 
of  yarn  in  each  spooler  box,  running 
through  3,400  pounds  of  yarn  more, 
and  at  the  same  time  not  costing  a 
penny  more.  Besides  the  above  sav- 
ing, running  your  ring  rail  too 
fast  will  cause  ballooning  at  each 
completion  of  the  traverse  of  the  bob- 
bin, on  account  of  so  sudden  a  change, 
causing  the  yarn  to  whip,  thus  break- 
ing a  large  amount  of  ends. 

TURNS  TO  THE  INCH. 

Another  defect  found  in  most  cotton 
mill  spinning  rooms,  which  causes  bad 
warping,  is  not  having  the  necessary 
number  of  turns  to  the  inch  in  the 
yarn.  Many  tables  are  given  for  an 
approximate  idea  and  many  believe 
such  tables  to  be  exact,  and  they  make 
their  changes  accordingly  and  let  it 
go  at  that. 

The  constant  used  for  ring  spin- 
ning is  4.75  multiplied  by  the  square 
root  of  the  number  of  yarn.  It  muBt 
be  clearly  understood  that  the  above 
constant  is  not  absolute,  because  some 
short  cotton  will  take  the  twist  better 
than  longer  kinds.  Thus  the  inex- 
perienced should  not  accept  such 
tables  as  exact,  but  employ  the  above 
rule  to  build  the  first  bobbin.  How- 
ever, with  fair  cotton  running  28s 
yarn,  the  front  roll  should  revolve  118 
revolutions  per  minute,  the  spindles 
making  9,000  revolutions.    Never  run 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


79 


your  spindles  over  9,000  revolutions 
per  minute. 

CHANGING  OF  RINGS. 

Another  bad  defect  is  in  the  chang- 
ing of  rings.  Some  overseers  will  al- 
low rings  to  be  changed  here  and 
there  around  the  room,  which  is  one 
of  the  worst  evils  existing  to-day  in  a 
ring  spinning  room,  because  you  must 
have  a  different  traveler  for  a  new 
ring  on  account  of  its  rough  surface, 
and  if  new  rings  are  distributed 
around  the  room,  it  will  be  seen  that 
it  is  impossible  to  select  the  proper 
travelers  to  suit  all  rings. 

The  only  way  to  change  rings 
is  to  order  a  half  dozen  or  more 
frames  of  new  rings  and  put  all 
the  new  rings  on  a  certain  num- 
ber of  frames,  then  pick  out  all 
the  good  rings  taken  off  where  the  new 
rings  were  put  on,  to  use  about  the 
room. 

As  stated  before,  new  rings  require 
a  different  traveler  from  an  old  ring, 
but  as  the  new  rings  become  smooth, 
a  heavier  traveler  should  be  used. 
Some  overseers  blame  the  carder  for 
the  yarn  ballooning  on  a  dry  day, 
claiming  the  work  to  be  light,  when 
the  real  cause  is  in  the  new  rings  be- 
ing smooth,  thus  requiring  a  heavier 
traveler. 

BOSSES  OF  ROLLS. 

Another  defect  is  having  the  bosses 
of  the  rolls  of  uneven  diameter,  thus 
causing  some  of  the  rolls  to  flute,  also 
having  top  rolls  too  tight  in  the  cap 
bars,  which  causes  much  friction,  mak- 
ing very  heavy  yarn  here  and  there 
around  the  room,  besides  causing 
much  wear  of  both  rolls  and  cap  bars. 

Another  defect  is  to  set  the  top  roll 
directly  over  the  centre  of  the  steel 
roll.  Set  it  a  little  forward  of  the  cen- 
tre of  the  bottom  steel  roll,  and  you 
will  find  that  you  will  have  less 
cockled  yarn  when  the  work  runs 
heavy. 

A  costly  defect  is  in  having 
some  frames  standing  two  or  three 
days,    or    even    weeks    for  repairs, 


or  on  account  of  shortage  of  help, 
without  turning  the  rolls  to  prevent 
them  from  flattening,  caused  by  keep- 
ing them  weighted  while  the  mill  has 
been  standing.  When  a  mill  has  been 
standing  two  days,  on  the  third  day 
all  rolls  should  be  turned  in  order  to 
save  the  leather  covering  from  groov- 
ing, in  some  cases  the  leather  cov- 
ering bursting  on  account  of  being 
flattened. 

A  defect  most  common  in  all  ring 
spinning  rooms  is  to  allow  ends  of 
weight  levers  to  rest  on  the  boards, 
and  not  have  the  weight  resting  in  the 
proper  notch  cut  in  the  lever.  This 
is  very  detrimental  to  good  spinning 
besides  causing  much  uneven  work. 

BANDING  A  CYLINDER. 
Another  defect  is  in  banding  a  cylin- 
der all  on  one  side.  When  banding 
a  cylinder,  in  order  not  to  cramp  it, 
tie  a  band  on  one  side,  then  tie  one 
opposite  and  so  on  until  it  is  all  banded. 
Never  tie  a  band  on  a  cylinder  when 
stopped.  Always  band  a  cylinder 
when  running  in  order  to  have  the 
proper  tension  on  the  bands,  and  see 
that  all  the  bands  are  of  the  same  di- 
ameter. 

Another  defect,  common  in  a  cotton 
ring  spinning  room,  is  in  bobbins  that 
fit  poorly.  The  writer  has  in  mind  a 
spinning  room  where  bobbins  fit  so 
poorly,  continually  working  their  way 
up  to  the  top  of  the  spindle,  and  be- 
came so  troublesome  that  the  speed  of 
the  spindles  had  to  be  reduced. 

Another  defect  that  causes  the  wear- 
ing of  the  saddles,  rolls  and  stirrups, 
resulting  in  unnecessary  friction,  is  to 
allow  the  stirrups  to  rub  the  steel  roll. 
WORN  FLUTES  ON  FRONT  ROLL. 

A  defect  that  is  much  overlooked  is 
worn  flutes  on  the  front  roll.  This 
defect  causes  irregular  drafting,  thus 
causing  uneven  yarn.  The  side  of  the 
flutes  leaving  the  leather  roll  as  it  re- 
volves, if  examined,  will  be  found  to 
be  very  sharp,  and  the  least  friction  on 
the  leather  roll  causing  it  to  lag,  gives 
the  sharp  side  of  the  flutes  the  oppor- 


80 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


tunity  to  cut  the  grain  of  the  leather 
roll,  making  it  rough,  causing  the  end 
to  lick  up  continually.  I  know  of  a 
spinning  room  where  three  quarts  of 
oil  saved  600  rolls  a  week. 

OILING  FRONT  ROLLS. 

To  have  a  smooth  top  leather,  have 
a  boy  who  can  be  trusted  to  oil  the 
front  rolls  every  day.  The  oil  should 
first  be  soaked  in  a  small  piece  of 
waste,  and  then  applied  to  the  surface 
of  the  top  leather  roll  under  the  sad- 
dle. If  your  yarn  is  uneven,  take  a 
front  roll  and  have  it  refluted,  and, 
after  replacing,  set  all  top  leather  rolls 
square  with  the  front  steel  roll  and 
see  that  all  rolls  are  oiled  properly, 
and  you  will  find  the  yarn  much 
stronger. 

LONG  PIECINGS. 

Another  defect  that  should  be  given 
attention  is  leaving  long  piecings 
when  creeling  5  and  6  inches  long.  It 
should  be  remembered  that  piecing 
six  inches  long,  allowed  to  run  in  at 
the  back  of  a  ring  spinning  frame  with 
a  draft  of  7,  will  make  a  heavy  end 
in  front  of  42  inches  long.  The  only 
way  to  stop  this  defect  is  to  obtain 
a  piece  of  cloth  containing  such  heavy 
lengths  of  yarn  and  explain  to  the 
help  the  harm  done  by  this  careless- 
ness. Another  defect  is  to  run  guide 
wires  not  directly  over  the  centre  of 
the  spindle,  also  guide  wires  that  are 
grooved  at  the  bearing  point,  these 
clinging  to  the  yarn,  and  causing  it 
to  be  continually  breaking. 

WORN  LIFTING  RODS. 

Another  defect  is  to  run  worn  lifting 
rods  that  support  the  ring  rails.  This 
defect  causes  the  ring  to  move  later- 
ally, thus  bringing  the  centre  of  the 
ring  away  from  the  spindle,  causing 
unnecessary  tension  on  the  yarn.  An- 
other defect  is  allowing  waste  to  ac- 
cumulate around  the  bottom  of  the 
spindles,  thus  reducing  the  speed  of 
the  spindle,  and  preventing  the  neces- 
sary number  of  turns  to  the  inch  be- 


ing inserted  in  the  yarn,  thus  making 
weak  yarn  and  bad  warping. 

CHANGING  THE  TRAVELERS. 
Another  defect  is  not  changing  the 
travelers  at  the  proper  time.  Some 
overseers  never  change  travelers,  but 
let  them  wear  and  fly  from  the  ring. 
The  writer  knows  of  a  case  where  this 
practice  cost  the  company  much 
money,  because  of  broken  traveler 
pieces  having  found  their  way  to  the 
cloth,  causing  much  damage  to  the 
bleaching  and  dyeing  machines,  be- 
sides spoiling  the  cloth.  Have  a  sys- 
tem of  changing  your  travelers,  and 
you  will  find  that  it  will  save  your 
rings  as  well  as  prevent  the  above  de- 
fect. No.  58. 
■  *  »  

COTTON  SPINNING. 


Suppose  we  have  a  good  grade  of 
cotton  to  start  with,  and  it  matched 
up  and  was  well  carded,  can  we  produce 
a  first  class  quality  of  spun  yarn?  Yes! 
if  all  the  parts  of  the  spinning  frame 
and  the  help  are  properly  looked  after. 
Every  care  should  be  taken  at  the 
spinning  frame  to  produce  a  good 
even  yarn  or  it  will  be  a  great  loss 
to  the  company.  We  know  it  is  a 
loss  to  pay  from  12  to  23  cents  a  pound 
tor  cotton  and  have  it  ruined  at  the 
spinning  frame  and  thrown  back  for 
waste. 

CAUSES   OF  INFERIOR  YARN. 

What  causes  bad,  weak  and  un- 
even yarn?  The  rolls  being  too  wide 
apart  is  one  cause.  Another  is  top 
rolls  not  being  properly  cleaned 
and  oiled.  Another  is  the  thread 
guide  being  too  far  from  the  top  of  the 
spindle,  which  lets  the  thread 
strike  the  top  of  the  bob- 
bin and  stretches  it.  Another  cause 
of  weak  and  bad  looking  yarn  is  to 
run  the  travelers  too  light  which  lets 
the  thread  lash  the  separator.  Most 
of  the  spinners  set  their  rolls  l-16th 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


81 


of  an  inch  wider  apart  than  the  cotton 
roll  is  supposed  to  be.  This  is  all 
right.  Do  you  know  that?  You  have 
an  even  grade  to  set  to.    I  find 

THE  BEST  RULE 

is  to  close  your  rolls  up  until  you  have 
a  good  strength,  provided  you  don't 
get  close  enough  to  cockle,  but  if  you 
should  find  some  cockled  yarn  don't 
run  and  open  up  your  rolls  at  once,  but 
look  around  and  see  if  there  is  not 
something  else.  See  if  the  leather 
rolls  are  clean  and  have  oil  on  them, 
then  if  you  find  cockled  yarn  it  may 
be  in  the  cotton.  I  find  that  it  is  a 
much  better  way  to  take  out  the  back 
saddle  for  this  trouble  than  to  open 
the  roUs  wider.  Taking  out  the  back 
saddle  and  leaving  the  strength  in  the 
yarn  and  opening  the  rolls  will  in- 
cline to  weaken  it.  Some  times  we  do 
all  this  and  still  can  not  get  the  proper 
strength.  Do  we  go  back  to  the  card- 
er? No!  If  we  have  long  staple  cotton 
we  may  have 

TOO  MUCH  TWIST 

in  the  yarn.  Twist  will  make  yarn 
brittle  and  it  won't  break  well  and  will 
not  have  any  strength  in  it  and  yarn 
that  has  no  strength  will  break  below 
standard.  Another  thing  in  twisting 
yarn  too  hard,  if  you  are  going  to 
double  and  twist  it  to  make  a  good, 
smooth,  even  ply  yarn,  run  it  with 
as  little  twist  as  will  spin  good  and 
pull  the  spool  on  twister  without 
breaking. 

THE  TRAVELER. 
Take  the  travelers.  There  are  a  lot 
of  different  makes.  Some  are  better 
than  others  for  different  numbers  of 
yarn,  but  they  will  all  give  trouble  and 
make  bad  work  and  bad  running  work 
travelers  on  coarse  yarns  should  be 
watched,  and  changed  about  every  two 
weeks  or  they  are  sure  to  affect  the 
grade  of  yarn.  In  fine  work  travelers 
will  almost  change  themselves  by  com- 
ing off  when  woven.  If  travelers  have 
to  be  changed  the  overseer  should 
stay  near  by  and  see  that  nothing  is 


used  to  knock  them  off  the  ring. 
Knocking  on  the  ring  ruins  the  life 
of  it  very  quickly.  A  worn  ring  will 
make  bad  work  and  cause  the  spinner 
continuous  trouble.  I  find  that  a  num- 
ber one  flange  ring  is  much  the  best 
for  fine  work;  also,  if  you  have  not 
tried  the  flat  toe  traveler  that  has  not 
been  out  long  give  it  a  trial.  I  think 
it  is  much  better  for  the  reason  that 
it  does  not  touch  as  much  of  the  ring, 
and  the  life  of  the  traveler  is  much 
longer  and  it  is  sure  to  lengthen  the 
life  of  the  ring.  A  very  important 
point  in  spinning  is  to  use  every  ef- 
fort to  take  care  of  the  frame,  the 
spindles  and  steel  rolls.  They  should 
be  looked  after  first.  The  only  thing 
to  do  is  to  have  them  properly  oiled. 
Look  closely  after  the  gearing  of  the 
frame  to  keep  the  work  running  as 
well  as  possible.  Draft  and  speed 
have  a  lot  to  do  with  the  running  of 
the  work.  If  running  staple  cotton, 
the  draft  should  not  exceed  twelve  on 
double  roving,  number  40  yarn  being 
spun,  12  draft:  speed  of  front  roll 
should  not  exceed  120;  the  speed  of 
the  spindle  should  not  exceed  9,500. 
I  have  found  this  to  run  very  satis- 
factorily with  a  good  product. 

No.  59. 


SPINNING  RING  FRAMES. 


This  is  most  important.  Poor 
leveling  will  cause  the  best  of  ma- 
chinery to  run  badly.  After  a 
machine  has  been  properly  leveled  all 
moving  parts  should  be  found  to  turn 
easily.  If  they  do  not  the  cause  should 
be  investigated  and  remedied  before 
starting  up  the  frame. 

OILING. 

In  starting  up  any  machine  the  oil- 
ing should  be  given  particular  atten- 
tion. This  applies  to  the  recesses  In 
the  worm  gear.    The  cylinder  pully 


82 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


and  rolls,  bearings,  and  particularly  to 
the  spindles. 

RING  RAIL  LEVELING. 
The  rails  should  be  leveled  care- 
fully before  any  rings  are  set,  and  par- 
ticular attention  should  be  given  in 
seeing  that  frames  are  balanced  prop- 
erly. You  frectuently  find  frames  bal- 
anced up  with  more  weight  than  neces- 
sary. This  adds  to  the  power  required 
for  driving,  and  makes  it  difficult 
to  depress  the  rails  for  doffing. 

SPINDLE  PLUMBING. 

The  rings  should  be  set  to  the  spin- 
dle at  the  bottom  of  the  traverse,  then 
run  the  rails  up  within  one-half  inch 
of  the  top  of  the  bobbin  and  plumb  the 
spindle  to  the  ring  by  moving  the  spin- 
dle and  not  the  ring. 

SEPARATORS. 

To  prevent  the  separator  rods  from 
moving  from  their  position  have 
two  pins,  one  on  each  side  of  the  cap, 
fastened  in  the  rod.  This  will  save 
much  trouble  for  the  spinner.  Separa- 
tors should  be  leveled  to  the  ring  rail 
while  the  traverse  is  at  the  bottom  of 
the  bobbin. 

TRAVERSE  MOTION. 

The  trumpets  should  be  set  evenly 
in  regard  to  the  rolls.  The  traverse 
should  be  run  as  long  as  practical. 
This  saves  roll  covering  bills. 

The 

BACK  LASH  LEVER, 
should  not  be  found  resting  either  on 
the  weight  lever  or  on  the  deck  board, 
as  this  will  prevent  the  trumpet  rod 
from  making  its  practical  stroke. 
The  weight  levers  should  be  leveled 
carefully  so  that  the  top  rolls  will  re- 
ceive the  same  pressure  from  the 
weights. 

CREELS  AND  SKEWERS. 
Creel  boards  should  be  set  so  as  not 
to  show  ends  of  skewers,  and  porce- 
lain steps  should  be  used  in  creel 
boards.  When  yarn  creels  are  not  set 
properly,  you  will  find  broken  back 
ends  caused  by  friction  on  skewers. 


This  also  puts  too  much  tension  on  the 
roving.  No.  60. 

COTTON  SPINNING. 


Please  allow  me  first  to  bring  to 
mind  the  fact  that  there  used  to  be 
a  tima  when  the  young  man  never  had 
a  chance  to  be  an  overseer;  the  older 
man  was  always  preferred  on  account 
of  his  long  experience  in  the  mill.  Now 
as  the  world  gets  older  we  all  get 
wiser.  There  is  so  much  opposition  in 
the  world  to-day  in  the  manufacturing 
of  cotton  and  woolen  goods  that  there 
is  a  demand  for  younger  and  smarter 
men  to  take  hold  of  the  heads  of  these 
cotton  and  woolen  departments  to  get 
all  possible  production  and  quality 
combined  that  can  be  got  in  the  work- 
ing hours  of  the  mill.  The  young  man 
of  to-day  has,  of  course,  the  great  ad- 
vantage of  the  older  man  of  years 
past,  by  his  technical  education.  A 
young  man  when  studying  in  these 
schools  and  working  10  hours  a  day  at 
the  same  work  in  which  he  is  studying, 
is  forced  to  use  his  brains  and,  there- 
fore, can  not  help  but  push  himself 
forward.  If  he  is  a  man  of  go  and  en- 
ergy, he  is  bound  to  reach  the  top  of 
the  pole.  Now  sir,  I  will  take  for  my 
suggestion  the  subject  of  how  to  make 
good  strong  yarn. 

I  will  base  my  suggestions  on  counts 
ranging  up  to  30s,  not  taking  the 
combers  into  consideration  for  these 
counts. 

TESTING  THE  STOCK. 
I  will  first  suggest  a  few  important 
points  which  should  be  carried  out  in 
the  teslting  of  cotton  when  it  has 
been  received  at  the  mill.  Samples 
should  be  taken  out  from  each  bale 
and  put  in  a  separate  parcel  or  small 
bag  with  the  number  in  it  correspond- 
ing to  the  number  on  the  bale  (it  is 
better  to  take  a  sample  from  each  side 
of  the  bale,  as  cotton  bales,  even  when 
billed  together  often  vary  in  quality, 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


83 


either  from  having  been  raised  on 
farms  of  different  sections  or  from  in- 
efhcient  grading  by  the  cotton  factor, 
or  from  intent  to  defraud,  as  cotton  is 
not  always  what  it  is  represented  to 
be);  these  samples  should  be  taken 
and  tested  and  compared  with  the  buy- 
ing samples,  and  if  not  up  to  the  mark 
should  be  rejected,  or  at  least  not  al- 
io vved  to  be  put  in  where  a  good  single 
thread  is  wanted.  This  testing  should 
be  done  by  the  superintendent  and  the 
overseer  of  carding — the  men  who  are 
looked  upon  as  being  capable  of  look- 
ing after  this  important  matter. 
COTTON  MIXING. 

After  the  cotton  has  been  tested 
and  is  O.  K.,  then  comes  the  mixing 
operation.  The  marks  are  select- 
ed from  the  stock,  and  I  would 
suggest  that  two  or  three  bales 
of  each  mark  should  be  put  down. 
The  mixes  should  be  made  as  large  as 
possible,  to  last  a  whole  day  or  more 
if  there  is  room  to  allow  such  mixes 
to  be  made.  A  great  deal  of  care 
should  be  exercised  in  laying  out  these 
mixes  so  as  to  get  them  blended  as 
evenly  as  possible,  as  it  is  this 
that  helps  ito  get  an  even  and 
strong  thread  and  I  would  suggest  that 
if  these  bales  are  fed  into  a  hopper 
bale  opener  a  small  lay  off  each  bale 
at  a  time  should  be  fed  into  the  ma- 
chine, taking  one  piece  off  each  bale 
after  another.  By  doing  this  we  are 
bound  to  get  them  blended  evenly. 
Of  course  there  are  several  ways  in 
which  mixes  can  be  made,  but  as  it 
will  take  up  too  much  time  and  space  I 
will  only  mention  (the  most  important 
and  the  one  that  mills  are  adopting 
to-day.  The  hopper  bale  opener, 
which  is  attached  to  the  back  of  the 
hopper  feeder  and  from  there  to  the 
opener,  all  done  auitomatically,  is  a 
fine  arrangement  and  gives  satisfac- 
tory results. 

COTTON  PICKERS. 

Next  come  the  laps  from  the  open- 
er, and  care  should  be  exercised  to  see 
that  these  laps  are  of  one  thickness 


all  across  the  lap,  as  the  air  current 
is  liable  to  blow  more  cotton  to  one 
side   of  the   cages   than   the  other, 
making    the    laps    thicker    on  one 
side    than    on   \the    other.     If  this 
should  happen  it  will  be  impossible 
for    the    intermediate    and  finisher 
lapper  to  make  a  perfect  lap  and  there- 
fore damage  is  done  to  the  evenness 
of  the  yarn  and  to  the  strength  of 
it  right  from  the  beginning.    If  the 
laps  are  not  made  perfect  from  these 
machines  you  cannot  remedy  them  any- 
where else.     Great  care   should  be 
given  to  the  intermediate  and  finisher 
or  scutchers  to  see  that  your  laps  are 
all  of  a  uniform  weight,  not  varying 
any    more    than    a    quarter    of  a 
pound    on    each    side    of    the  fix- 
ed    weight    that    your    laps     are , 
supposed  to  weigh.    In  order  to  se- 
cure good  even  laps  it  will  be  neces 
sary  to  give  good  attention  to  the 
scouring  of  the  machines.    The  ma- 
chines should  be  scoured  at  least  once 
a  month,  both  the  head  and  the  regu- 
lating motion.    The  regulating  motion 
should  receive  the  strictest  attention 
when  cleaning,  to  see  that  all  worn 
studs  and  bales  are  taken  out.   The  V 
shaft,  which  the  pedals  rest  on,  should 
be  well  polished  and  black  leaded  be- 
fore being  put  back,  also  the  pedals, 
without   oiling  them.     Also   have  a 
drum  strap  of  good  quality  and  see  that 
the  fork  is  not  too  wide  for  the  belt, 
a    good    width    being    about  one- 
eighth    of    an    i^nch     wider  than 
the    belt    itself.      These    belts,  I 
find    in    my    practice,    are  better 
cemented  together  than  laced  or  put 
together  with  buckles.     Care  should 
be  given  to  the  beater  to  see  that  its 
blades  are  not  too  round  or  blunt;  if 
this  should  happen  the  beater  would 
not  be  able  to  do  its  work  and  there- 
fore would  allow  the  cotton  to  pass 
without    being   properly   broken  up, 
making  what  I  term  small  lumps  in 
the  laps  that  cause  trouble  at  the  card 
and  damage  to  the  wire. 

There  is  a  beater  on  the  market  to- 
day that  I  might  suggest  which  would 


84 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


be  Of  interest  to  some  who  have  not 
had  any  experience  with  this  beater. 
It  is  beneficial  to  the  evenness  of  the 
yarn  and  to  its  strength  and  is  called 
the  Kirschner  Improved  Toothed  Beat- 
er, lit  consists  of  three  bars,  carrying 
lugs,  in  each  of  which  tempered  steel 
teeth  are  fixed.  These  are  made  to 
vary  in  fineness  and  length  according 
to  the  work  required  of  them.  It  has 
the  following  advantages: 

1.  Better  cleaning  properties. 

2.  Laps  more  homogeneous  and 
regular. 

3.  Lap  always  well  made,  cylindri- 
cal and  with  good  edges- 

4.  Laps  never  sticking  or  felting 
behind  the  cards. 

5.  Better  running  of  card  on  ac- 
count of  cotton  being  more  open. 

CARDS. 

After  the  raw  material  has  passed 
through  the  opening  and  scutching 
machines  the  fibres  are  found  matted 
together  or  lying  in  different  direc 
tions,  and  they  must  first,  as  nearly 
as  possible,  be  placed  parallel  to  each 
other  before  they  can  be  spun  into 
a  thread.  From  their  tendency  to 
curl,  repeated  brushing  and  combing 
is  necessary,  not  only  to  place  tue 
fibres  straight,  but  to  remove  such  as 
are  short  in  length  as  well  as  the  nips 
and  any  other  remaining  impurities. 
In  the  carding  process  the  felted 
fleece  delivered  by  the  scutcher  with 
the  fibres  crossed  in  all  directions  is 
combed  out  a  great  number  of  times 
so  as  to  help  to  straighten  out  the 
fibres  and  to  remove  all  impurities 
such  as  short  fibres  and  all  moss-like 
coverings  of  seeds.  If  these  are  allowed 
to  remain  in  the  sliver  the  yarn  pro- 
duced therefrom  will  have  a  rough  leei, 
so  I  would  advocate  that  great  care  be 
given  to  the  carding  engine  to  see  that 
it  is  kept  in  good  working  order  at 
all  times.  The  grinding  of  the  cylin- 
der and  doffer  and  fiats  is  the  most 
important  feature  about  the  card. 
They  must  be  kept  in  good  condition. 
After  the  grinding  of  the  card  great 


care  must  be  exercised  in  the  setting 
to  see  that  every  part  is  set  true  all 
across. 

I  find  in  my  practice,  that  is,  on  a 
45  inch  card,  meanir.  *r  45  inches 
across  wire,  the  following  settings: 

Doffer  comb  .to  doffer,  11-1000;  dof- 
fer to  cylinder,  7-1000;  V  plate,  34- 
1000;  stripping  or  percentage  plate,  15- 
1000;  fiats  to  cylinder,  10-1000  at  back, 
9-1000  at  front;  back  plate,  34-1000; 
licker  to  cylinder,  7-1000;  feed  plate 
to  licker-in,  15-1000;  top  mote  knife, 
15-1000;  bottom  mote  knife,  11-1000, 
cylinder  screens,  34-1000.  These  set- 
tings prove  very  satisfactory.  Of 
course,  on  narrow  cards  I  would  ad- 
vise setting  the  fiats  and  the  doffer  to 
cylinder  and  licker-in  to  cylinder  clos- 
er. 

FLOCKS   OR  FLY. 

There  are  several  other  points  which 
need  attention  to  get  a  perfect  sliver 
from  the  card.  There  are  what  I  term 
as  flocks  or  fly,  which  gather  be- 
tween the  cylinder  and  cylinder  sides 
and  beneath  the  doffer,  and  as  the 
doffer  revolves  it  keeps  drawing  in 
small  portions  and  taking  them  along 
with  the  web.  It  is  possible,  too,  for 
slack  filleting  to  cause  the  same  evil. 

NIPS  AND  CLOUDY  WEB 

may  be  caused  by  improper  or  insuf- 
ficient stripping,  grinding  and  set- 
ting. If  these  operations  are 
not  properly  attended  to  you 
may  expect  to  find  raw  and  un- 
carded  portions  of  cotton  in  the  web, 
or  if  the  various  carding  organs  get 
too  full  of  fiy  or  are  too  far  away  from 
each  other,  or  the  points  of  wire  are 
in  bad  shape,  you  cannot  get  good 
yarn. 

DRAWING  FRAMES. 

The  drawing  frame  is  the  last  ma- 
chine in  which  any  extensive  correc- 
tion of  the  unevenness  of  the  sliver 
takes  place  except  when  combers  or 
railway  heads  are  used,  but  I  will 
omit  the  latter  from  my  suggestions 
as     I     will     mention     only  yarns 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


85 


ranging  from  Is  to  30s.  Drawing 
frames  are  simple  but  yet  difficult  to 
those  who  do  not  know  how  to  adjust 
them  and  to  draft  them,  to  give  a 
perfect  sliver.  A  great  deal  of  harm 
can  be  done  in  this  machine  if  the 
setting  of  the  rollers  and  the  drafting 
of  them  is  not  done  right.  Drawing 
frames  usually  have  six  ends  up  at 
hack  with  six  of  a  draft.  I  find  in  my 
practice  that  better  results  are  ob- 
tained by  having  six  ends  up  with 
about  51  of  a  draft,  that  is,  total  draft, 
and  for  intermediate  draft,  between 
1st  and  2nd,  2.82;  2nd  and  3rd,  1.70; 
3rd  and  4th,  1.20,  and  for  the  setting 
of  rollers  I  always  take  into  considera- 
tion the  weight  of  the  sliver  as  well  as 
the  length  of  the  staple.  I  would  sug- 
gest the  following  settings  for  1-16 
inch  cotton  and  70  grain  sliver  with 
six  ends  up  at  back:  1st  and  2nd  rol- 
lers, 1%  inches;  2nd  and  3rd,  li  inches; 
3rd  and  4ith,  11  inches,  and  the 
rollers  should  be  weighted  as 
follows:  Front  top  rollers,  20  pounds 
on  each  'end  of  roller;  2nd,  22  pounds 
on  each  end;  3rd,  18  pounds,  and  4th, 
16  pounds,  and  the  speed  of  front 
roller  to  be  about  360  revolutions  per 
minute.  Drawing  frames  should  be 
well  looked  after  and  should  be  scour- 
ed every  three  months,  steel  roll- 
ers taken  out  and  cleaned  well  and 
the  stands  or  slides  should  be  exam- 
ined to  see  that  none  are  loose  or 
broken.  All  the  leather  rollers  should 
be  examined  and  the  bad  ones  taken 
out.  This,  in  fact,  should  be  done  every 
week,  and  the  front  line  of  rollers 
should  be  varnished  as  required. 

SLUBBING  FRAMES. 

The  next  stage  in  the  construction  of 
yarn  after  the  cotton  has  passed 
through  the  drawing  frames  involves 
the  further  attention  of  the  sliver,  but 
as  the  material  has  been  drawn  out 
almost  as  much  as  it  is  possible  with- 
out breaking,  a  small  amount  of  twist, 
as  it  is  called,  is  introduced  to  allow 
the  continued  drawing  out  of  the  sliv- 
er.   This  double  function  of  drawing 


and  twisting  is  therefore  the  main  ob- 
ject of  all  succeeding  machines  until 
the  yarn  is  fully  made.  In  order  to 
secure  good  work  from  these  frames 
they  must  be  kept  in  good  working 
order,  clean,  and  all  the  top  leather 
rollers  kept  in  good  shape.  See  that 
the  ends,  when  frame  is  running,  are 
not  too  tight;  they  should  run  slightly 
slack  so  as  not  to  stretch  the  strand 
of  roving  when  being  wound  on  the 
bobbin,  and  also  give  attention  to  the 
closeness  of  the  coils.  The  closer  the 
coils  of  roving  are  laid  together  the 
harder  will  be  the  bobbin,  but  over- 
lapping must  be  carefully  avoided,  and 
I  would  suggest  that  you  set  the  roll- 
ers for  a  70  grain  sliver  to  li-li,  mak- 
ing a  .48  hank  roving.  Speed  of  front 
roller  about  185  revolutions  per  min- 
ute, speed  of  spindle,  590  revolutions 
per  minute  and  I  would  weight  the 
roller  as  follows:  Front  roll,  20 
pounds;  2d,  16  pounds;  3d,  12  pounds; 
My  suggestion  will  apply  to  the  inter- 
mediate and  roving  frames  only  that 
the  settings  for  the  first  be  1  3-16  to  li 
inches  for  1.15  hank  out  of  .48  hank 
double.  Weight  of  front  roller  should 
be  20  pounds;  2nd,  16  pounds;  3rd,  12 
pounds.  Speeder  making  2.50  hank 
and  4  hank  out  of  1.15  hank  double, 
I  would  set  rollers  li-li  inches. 

SETTING  OF  DRAWING  ROLLERS. 

In  order  to  make  this  matter  more 
clear  to  my  readers,  which  is  very  im- 
portant in  order  to  get  good  strong 
yarn,  I  will  give  a  few  facts  in  relation 
to  the  setting  of  drawing  rollers.  The 
distances  from  centre  to  centre  of  the 
rollers  of  drawing  and  spinning  ma- 
chines depend  on  four  conditions: 
Namely,  the  length  of  the  fibres,  the 
thickness  of  the  sliver  or  roving  to 
be  operated  on,  the  quantity  of  twist 
in  the  roving,  and  the  amount  of  the 
draft.  The  first  point  is  the  most  im- 
portant, that  is,  the  length  of  the  fibres. 
It  is  necessary  to  make  the  distance 
from  the  nip  or  centre  of  one  pair  of 
rollers  to  that  of  the  next,  slightly  in 
excess  of  the  mean  length    of  the 


86 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


Staple  in  order  to  avoid  breaking  by 
means  of  the  pair  running  more  quickly 
drawing  a  fibre  that  is  still  held  by  the 
preceding  pair.  It  is  equally  as  im- 
portant to  keep  the  same  distance 
from  becoming  too  wide,  which  would 
allow  the  fibres  to  escape  the  influ- 
ence of  the  rollers  and  make  draft 
impossible.  It  therefore  follows  that 
the  longer  the  staple  of  the  cotton  and 
the  further  apart  the  line  of  rollers 
must  be  placed,  the  shorter  the  staple 
of  the  cotton  and  the  closer  the  rollers 
must  be  with  regard  to  the  thickness 
of  the  material  being  drawn,  the  quan- 
tity of  twist  and  the  amount  of  draft. 
Each  of  these  effects  the  setting  more 
or  less.  A  thick  roving  requires  more 
open  setting  of  rollers,  a  fine  one 
closer  setting.  An  extra  quantity  of 
twist  in  the  roving  also  requires  the 
distance  of  the  rollers  to  be 
greater,  while  slack  twisted  rov- 
ing should  have  closer  settings. 
The  draft  effects  the  setting  on  ac- 
count of  the  difference  in  speed  be 
tween  the  successive  line  of  rollers 
and  it  becomes  necessary  to  adopt 
closer  settings  when  a  very  large  draft 
is  introduced  or  more  open  settings 
for  a  very  small  draft. 
MULE  AND  RING  SPINNING  FRAME 
In  order  to  produce  a  good  yarn  on 
the  self-acting  mule  and  the  ring  spin 
ning  frame  it  will  be  necessary  to  ob- 
serve carefully  the  suggestions  for  the 
settings  which  I  have  just  quoted 
above.  The  previous  processes  have 
cleaned  the  fibres  and  arranged  them 
in  suitable  formation  as  roving  and 
attenuated  this  roving  until  only  one 
more  process  of  drafting  is  necessary 
to  reduce  it  to  the  size  desired  to 
form  yarn,  and  at  the  spinning  proc- 
ess this  final  attenuation  is  imparted 
and  in  addition  a  sufficient  amount  of 
twist  is  permanently  inserted  to  give 
to  the  yarn  the  strength  desired  for 
the  purpose  for  which  it  is  intended. 
Of  course,  if  you  put  too  much  twist 
into  the  yarn  you  will  weaken  it 
and  vice  versa  strengthen  it.  As  a  rule, 


a  multiple  of  475  is  used  for  warp  twist 
but  a  greait  deal  depends  on  the  stock 
you  are  using;  a  multiple  of  450  may 
do  for  some  cotton  and  then  again  you 
may  have  to  use  a  multiple  of  500.  I 
would  advise  spinners  to  give  this  mat- 
ter their  earnest  consideration,  as  it  is 
from  these  sources,  such  as  setting, 
twisting  and  drafting,  that  we  get  good 
yarn  from  the  spinning  process.  I 
would  also  suggest  that  on  the  ring 
frame,  overseers  give  aittention 
to  the  setting  of  spindles  and  thread 
eyes  and  see  that  the  rings 
are  firmly  in  their  places  and 
that  the  ring  travelers  be  changed 
about  every  six  or  seven  weeks,  ac- 
cording to  the  speed  as  they  get  worn 
and  damage  the  yarn.  The  travelers 
must  be  very  carefully  graded  to  suit 
the  counts  of  yarn  being  spun. 

Ring  frames  on  medium  counts 
should  be  scoured  about  every  six 
weeks  and  all  the  bad  leather  rollers 
taken  out.  Care  should  be  taken  not 
to  get  oil  on  the  leather  rollers. 

Regarding  the  self-acting  mule, 
there  are  numerous  causes  which  will 
damage  the  yarn  which  must  receive 
attention,  such  as  (1),  the  various  mo- 
tions being  too  keen;  (2),  the  ratch 
and  gain;  (3),  the  weighting  of  the 
fullers  being  too  excessive;  (4),  the 
spindle  bend  being  too  small;  (5),  the 
mule  wanting  re-setting;  (6),  the  mule 
being  out  of  square;  (7),  very  dry  and 
frosty  weather;  (8),  the  mule  be- 
ing overspeeded,  as  to  spindles;  (9) 
the  steel  rollers  and  leather  rolls 
being  set  at  wrong  distances 
apart;  (10),  the  quadrant  be- 
ing too  keen  and  cutting  the  yarn; 
(11),  carriage  springing  out  by  having 
the  down  belt  too  tight  or  by  having 
too  much  hastening  motion  on,  or  by 
having  a  very  slack  rim  band.  It  will 
be  also  equally  necessary  to  keep  the 
mule  clean  and  free  from  all  dirt  and 
well  lubricated,  as  there  are  numer- 
ous motions  and  need  some  looking 
after  in  order  to  get  a  perfect  thread. 

No.  61. 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


87 


WARP  WASTE  IN  COTTON 
MILL. 


It  is  a  well-known  fact  among  cot- 
ton mill  men  that  the  amount  of  cot- 
ton which  annually  goes  to  waste  al- 
ways will  prove  a  prominent  factor 
and  play  an  important  part  in  determin- 
ing the  profits  of  every  cotton  mill 
on  its  finished  products,  and  in  this 
day  of  high  priced  cotton,  and  in  many 
cases  of  inferior  or  unskilled  help, 
it  is  more  important  than  ever  before 
that  this  question  of  cotton  waste  re- 
ceive the  careful  attention  and  earnest 
consideration  on  the  part  of  the  man- 
agement of  every  cotton  mill. 

In  dealing  with  this  subject  the 
writer  will  not  attempt  to  discuss 
or  call  attention  to  all  the  many  wa>s 
in  which  cotton  may  be,  and  often  is, 
wasted  in  almost  every  process  of  the 
manufacture  of  cotton  goods,  because 
it  would  make  this  article  entirely  too 
long  for  the  purpose  for  which  it  is 
intended. 

COTTON  WARP  WASTE. 

So,  at  this  writing  we  will  consider 
only  the  cotton  warp  waste  that  oc- 
curs between  the  spinning  room  and 
the  weave  room,  and  endeavor  to  point 
out  causes  and  offer  some  suggestions 
that  may  be  of  help  in  obtaining  a 
reduction  in  this  class  of  waste. 

In  most  cotton  mills,  especially  those 
on  coarse  and  medium  weight  goods, 
warps  are  wound  on  balls  or  beams 
at  the  warpers  in  sets  of  from  four  to 
six  sections  each,  and  from  five  to  ten 
thousand  yards  in  length,  the  number 
of  sections  and  length  being  governed 
by  the  number  of  the  yarn  and  the 
number  of  ends  the  cloth  is  to  con- 
tain; if,  for  any  reason,  these  warp 
sections  fail  to  run  out  even  at  the 
slasher,  when  they  come  to  be  size- 
ed,  there  will  be  a  certain  amount,  of 
yarn  wasted,  such  amount  varying  as 
does  the  length  of  the  warp  sections; 
hence  it  may  be  readily  seen  that  if 


one  section  is  twenty  or  twenty-five 
yards  shorter  than  the  remaining  sec- 
tions of  the  set,  there  will  be  twenty 
or  twenty-five  yards  of  good  yarn  left 
on  all  of  the  section  beams  of  this 
set  except  one,  in  other  words,  the 
length  of  a  set  of  warps,  when  being 
run  through  the  slasher  and  sized,  can 
never  be  greater  than  its  shortest  sec- 
tion. 

In  some  instances  the  warpers  are 
condemned,  and  the  builders  of  these 
machines  unjustly  blamed  for  varia- 
tion in  the  length  of  warps,  when  the 
fact  is,  such  variation  may  be  due  to 
any  one  of  a  dozen  or  more  causes. 

In  the  first  place,  when  warpers  are 
installed,  they  should  be  properly  set 
up  with  all  parts  correctly  adjusted, 
with  careful  attention  given  to  device 
for  measuring  warp  and  stopping  ofC 
machine  at  the  desired  length,  and 
after  this,  if  the  man  having  warpers 
in  charge  will  give  them  a  reasonable 
amount  of  care  and  attention,  there 
will  be  but  little  trouble  from  this 
source. 

ON  BALL  WARPERS. 

On  ball  warpers  care  should  be  used 
in  starting  warps  off,  and  all  the  wood- 
en rollers  for  winding  warps  on  should 
be  of  the  same  size,  perfectly  round 
and  free  of  splinters  and  projecting 
nail  or  screw  heads,  otherwise  warps 
are  liable  to  be  snagged  or  torn  a  few 
yards  from  the  end,  and  when  these 
warps  reach  the  beamer  there  is  often 
a  lot  of  threads  broken  and  torn  out 
of  lease,  making  it  necessary  to  pull 
warps  over  to  the  next  lease  string, 
which  is  usually  from  fifteen  to  twen- 
ty-five yards  from  the  end,  before  warp 
can  be  laid  in  comb,  ready  for  beam- 
ing, or  turn  warp  over  and  lay  in  from 
the  other  end.  In  either  case  the 
amount  of  waste  would  be  the  same, 
as  all  the  yarn  between  end  of  warp 
and  place  of  laying  in  would  be  wasted. 

In  most  mills,  having  long  chain 
beaming,  lease  strings  are  placed  in 
the  warp  sections  at  the  warpers  every 
five  hundred  yards,  to  aid  the  beamer 
in  keeping  warps  straight,  and  there 


88 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


is  also  a  lease  string  to  run  in  at  the 
end  and  one  several  yards  from  the 
end,  to  be  used  for  laying  in  warp  in 
case  the  first  one  should  get  torn  out, 
or  yarn  become  badly  broken  or  tangl 
ed  near  the  end  before  reaching  beam- 
er,  and  it  is  this  second  lease  string 
that  we  have  reference  to. 

Now  it  is  an  easy  matter  to  see  that 
in  a  set  of  warps  in  which  there  are, 
say,  six  sections,  there  will  be  six 
times  as  many  yards  of  yarn  wasted 
as  may  be  cut  off  of  one  section  at  the 
beaming  frame,  for,  as  before  stated, 
the  available  yarn  in  a  set  of  warps 
can  never  be  more  than  is  contained 
in  the  shortest  section  of  such  set. 
FURTHER  PARTICULARS. 

From  the  foregoing  it  may  be  seen 
that  anything  which  has  a  tendency  to 
cause  irregularity  in  the  length  of  the 
fractional  parts  of  a  set  of  warps  is 
bound  to  cause  an  increase  in  the  pro- 
duction of  warp  waste,  and  we  might 
go  further  and  say  anything  which  will 
cause  the  threads  composing  the  frac- 
tional parts  of  a  set  of  warps  to  vary 
in  length  will  also  cause  an 
increase  in  the  amount  of  warp 
waste,  but  before  taking  this 
up  we  desire  to  call  attention 
to  other  causes  for  some  warp  sections 
running  out  sooner  at  the  slasher  than 
others  of  the  same  set;  when  warps 
are  to  be  dyed  they  are  usually  con- 
veyed from  the  warpers  to  the  dye 
house  by  rolling  them  on  the  floor, 
or  on  trucks,  and  any  carelessness  on 
the  part  of  those  who  handle  them 
will  result  in  many  of  the  warps  be- 
ing torn  or  snagged  on  splinters  and 
nail  heads,  or  in  loading  or  unloadling 
on  trucks,  or  any  carelessness  or  in- 
attention on  the  part  of  the  operatives 
in  dye  house  will  result  in  warps  be- 
ing tangled  and  broken,  usually  by 
allowing  warps  to  "wrap  up"  on  some 
of  the  various  rollers  over  which  yarn 
has  to  pass  during  the  process  of  dye- 
ing, resulting  in  having  to  cut  out 
these  tangled  and  torn  places  and  re- 
ducing the  warp  many  yards  in  length, 
or  if  these  places    are  not  cut  out 


in  dye  house  it  is  almost  sure  to  have 
to  be  done  when  they  reach  the  beam- 
er  before  warps  can  be  run;  so  when 
we  consider  the  fact  that  for  every 
yard  of  warp  lost  in  one  section  there 
will  be  a  corresponding  loss  in  each 
of  the  other  sections  of  the  set  when  it 
reaches  the  slasher,  we  can  not  but 
realize  that  warps  can  never  be  too 
carefully  handled  prior  to  the  process 
of  sizing. 

WASTE  IN  BEAMING. 
Beaming  is  usually  paid  for  by  the 
piece,  or  so  much  per  thousand  yards, 
and  naturally  most  beamers  will  try 
to  earn  as  much  as  possible,  without 
always  having  due  regard  for  the 
amount  of  waste  made,  or  the  quality 
of  the  work  they  may  turn  off,  and 
many  of  them,  if  given  a  chance,  where 
several  threads  are  found  broken  at 
or  near  first  lease  string,  will  pull 
the  warp  over  for  several  yards,  cut 
off  and  lay  in  at  second  lease  string, 
rather  than  take  time  to  mend  these 
broken  ends,  which  should  always  be 
done,  unless  it  is  a  very  large  break. 
Beamers  are  also  inclined,  when  a 
break-out  occurs,  to  run  beam  right 
on  for  several  yards  until  all  these 
broken  ends  come  up  perfectly 
straight,  so  that  they  can  stand  In 
front  of  beaming  frame,  pick  the  ends 
off  straight,  tie  them  in  and  get  frame 
started  as  soon  as  possible;  when  this 
is  done  there  will  be  several  yards  or 
rounds  on  the  beam  lost,  with  the  re- 
sult that  the  ends  composing  this 
break-out  will  run  out  on  slasher  just 
so  many  yards  or  rounds  sooner  than 
remaining  ends  in  warp  section.  There 
is  a  rack  over  beaming  frames  on 
which  are  suspended  small  spools  of 
warp  yarn,  to  be  used  in  case  of  break- 
outs and  loose  ends,  and  the  foreman 
should  see  that  these  are  put  to  prop- 
er use,  that  there  may  be  no  reduction 
in  the  length  of  warp  threads  on  sec- 
tion beam. 

All  beamers  should  be  trained  to 
run  as  near  as  possible  the  same 
amount  of  weight  on  drums,  that  the 
tension  on  all  warps  may  be  the  same; 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


89 


it  is  well  known  among  beamers  that 
by  weighting  one  warp  heavy  and  an- 
other light,  in  beaming,  there  will  be 
a  difference  of  several  yards  in  the 
length  of  these  warps  when  they  are 
finished,  the  one  receiving  the  greater 
tension  being  the  greater  in  length. 
A  GOOD  WAY. 

A  very  good  way  is  to  have  each 
beamer  run  a  full  set  of  warps,  in- 
stead of  breaking  set  out  among  two 
or  more  beamers;  there  are  seldom  two 
beamers  in  the  same  room  who  run 
the  same  amount  of  tension  on  their 
warps,  hence,  when  sets  are  divided 
between  two  or  more  beamers  they 
are  bound  to  vary  in  length,  and  run 
out  uneven  on  the  slashers.  Another 
advantage  in  this  system  is  that  if 
beamer's  name  or  number  is  placed 
on  every  tag  which  goes  with  the  warp 
to  the  weave  room,  it  is  an  easy  mat 
ter  to  trace  all  bad  work  back  to  the 
one  responsible  for  it,  but  when  a  set 
of  warps  is  beamed  by  more  than  one 
operator  there  is  no  way  of  telling, 
after  warp  reaches  weave  room,  who 
is  responsible  for  inferior  work,  in 
beaming  process. 

There  are  beamers  who,  if  not 
watched,  will  lift  warp  out  of  comb 
several  yards  from  last  end,  especially 
if  there  happens  to  be  a  few  broken 
ends,  and  run  it  on  beam  in  one  solid 
strand,  or  just  as  it  left  dye  house,  and 
it  can  readily  be  seen  that  this  part 
of  the  warp  which  has  no  ''spread" 
to  it  will  have  to  be  discarded  before 
it  can  be  started  through  slasher. 

We  know  of  mills  where  it  is  in- 
sisted that  as  much  yarn  be  run  on  sec- 
tion beams  as  they  will  possibly  hold. 
In  most  cases  we  think  this  very  poor 
policy,  as  when  the  yarn  on  a  beam 
is  greater  in  circumference  than  the 
beam  heads,  and  beams  are  rolled 
around  on  floor  before  going  to  slash- 
er, there  is  almost  sure  to  be  some 
of  the  threads  cut  or  torn  when  warps 
come  to  be  sized,  causing  waste  and 
much  bad  work,  for  beams  heaped  up  on 
ends  never  start  off  and  run  so  well 
on  slasher  as  those  with  beams  a  little 


less  than  full;  so,  there  is  no  doubt 
but  that  it  would  pay  in  the  long  run 
to  have  all  warp  sections  made  of  such 
length  and  number  of  ends  that  the 
warp  section  when  beamed  will  be 
supported  on  the  floor  by  the  beam 
heads  and  not  the  warp  yarn  on  beam. 
WASTE  IN  SLASHING. 

So  far  as  we  have  been  able  to  learn, 
and  we  know  such  to  be  a  fact  in  a 
great  many  mills,  the  amount  of  warp 
waste  made  on  and  between  slashers 
and  weave  room  is  equal  to,  and  often 
in  excess  of,  the  waste  occurring  be- 
tween warpers  and  slashers,  and  the 
greater  portion  of  it  may  be  traced 
to  break-outs  which  occur  while  warps 
are  being  sized,  from  the  fact  that 
nine  times  out  of  ten  when  the  yarn  is 
broken  or  tangled  to  any  extent,  be- 
tween the  section  beam  and  loom 
beam,  during  the  process  of  sizing, 
loom  beam  has  to  be  doffed  and  a  num- 
ber of  yards  of  yarn  pulled  off,  until 
all  these  broken  ends  come  up  straight, 
before  it  can  be  drawn  or  tied-in  for  the 
loom.  Break-outs  on  the  slasher,  when 
they  first  start,  consist  usually  of  only 
a  few  broken  ends,  but  if  slasher  ten- 
der is  not  watching  his  work  closely, 
and  machine  is  allowed  to  run  on,  even 
for  a  minute  or  two,  the  number  of 
broken  ends  will  rapidly  increase  and 
mat  up  against  slasher  comb,  causing 
loom  beam  to  wind  on  several  yards  of 
warp  minus  these  broken  ends,  causing 
a  number  of  yards  to  be  pulled  off,  as 
above  stated. 

There  are  various  causes  for  break- 
outs on  the  slasher,  but  most  of  them 
can  be  traced  to  bad  beaming  and 
warping,  such  as  loose  ends,  crossed 
places,  small  bunches  of  waste  care- 
lessly thrown  on  beam  and  wrapped  in 
yarn  during  process  of  beaming  or 
warping,  and  high  or  low  selvedges, 
causing  ends  to  run  slack  and  tangle 
on  slasher. 

When  loom  beam  is  doffed  from 
slasher,  care  should  be  taken  to  re- 
tain yarn  in  one  solid  sheet,  just  as 
it  is  wound  on  beam,  when  this  is  not 
done,  or  when  warp  becomes  tangled 


90 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


in  any  way,  the  yarn  will  have  to  be 
pulled  off  until  it  comes  up  perfectly 
even  and  straight  before  it  can  be 
properly  tied  or  drawn  into  the  har- 
ness; if  this  is  not  done  warp  will  be 
crossed  and  cannot  be  woven. 

USE  OF  LOOM  BEAMS. 

Loom  beams  should  never  be  filled 
so  full  that  yarn  will  rest  on  the  floor, 
for  while  there  may  be  something 
saved  in  drawing  in  by  so  doing,  this 
small  saving  is  invariably  lost  in  waste 
and  bad  running  work  in  the  weave 
room.  A  good  plan  is  never  to  allow 
warp  yarn  to  touch  floor  from  the  time 
it  leaves  slasher  until  it  is  tied  or 
drawn  in.  This  can  be  accomplished 
by  not  filling  beams  quite  full,  or  at 
least,  not  more  than  level  full,  doff 
them  at  the  slasher  on  truck,  carefully 
"tuck"  warp  ends  and  lay  out  with 
beam  heads  resting  on  floor;  or  if  there 
is  a  rack  provided  to  head  full  beams 
up  in,  while  waiting  to  be  tied,  it  is 
reasonably  safe  to  run  as  much  yarn 
on  beams  as  they  will  hold. 

When  a  break-out  occurs  on  slasher, 
operator  usually  doffs  beam  and  lays 
it  to  one  side  until  he  can  find  time 
to  pull  off  yarn  and  straighten  up  warp 
before  allowing  it  to  go  to  the  tying- 
in  machine.  Now,  it  is  a  very  easy  mat- 
ter to  pull  off  ten  yards  of  waste  when 
five  would  be  sufficient,  and  this  is 
often  done,  most  slasher  tenders,  or 
at  least  many  of  them,  had  rather  cut 
off  and  allow  to  go  to  waste  several 
pounds  of  warp  yarn  than  to  take  any 
chances  on  having  to  go  to  the  weave 
room  to  look  at  their  bad  work.  Hence, 
they  are  often  over  zealous  in  pulling 
back  warp,  where  break-out  has  oc- 
curred, in  trying  to  get  up  every  broken 
end,  and  often  pull  off  more  yarn  than 
is  necessary;  any  yarn  that  is  to  be 
pulled  off  as  waste  after  warp  has 
been  sized,  should  be  done  in  the 
presence  of  the  foreman  of  the  room, 
AFTER  SLASHING. 

After  warp  has  been  run  through 
the  slasher  and  sized,  and  goes  to  the 
drawin^-in  frame  or  tying-in  machine, 


as  the  case  may  be,  to  be  prepared 
for  the  weave  room,  it  frequently  hap- 
pens that  the  outer  rounds  of  yarn  on 
the  beam  have  been  tangled  or  threads 
"rolled"  by  careless  handling  in  such  a 
manner  that  several  rounds  will  have 
to  be  pulled  off  before  warp  can  be 
tied  or  drawn  in  the  harness  straight, 
and,  like  the  slasher  tenders,  unless 
the  operators  on  these  machines  are 
properly  instructed  and  frequently 
cautioned,  they  will  pull  off  and  allow 
more  yarn  to  go  to  waste  than  is  neces- 
sary. 

The  writer  will  not  attempt  to  give 
any  figures  in  support  of  this  article, 
for  the  reason  that  the  conditions  in 
no  two  mills  are  the  same,  and  the 
figures  that  would  apply  to  one  would 
not  apply  to  another;  furthermore,  all 
who  are  familiar  with  the  manufacture 
of  cotton  goods,  Vv^e  hope,  will  be  able 
to  recognize  the  facts  as  stated,  and 
will  see  that  by  giving  due  regard  to 
things  which  we  have  endeavored  to 
call  attention  to,  there  may  be  ac- 
complished a  great  saving  in  cotton 
and  an  increase  in  the  earnings  of 
almost  every  cotton  mill.  No.  62. 
 -d-^^  _ 

MERCERIZING  LIQUORS. 


The  recovery  of  mercerizing  liquors 
is  a  process,  which  is  used  to  practical- 
ly but  little  extent  in  this  country, 
but  is  used  to  a  great  extent  abroad. 

Mercerizers  can  materially  add  to 
the  efficiency  of  their  process  by  in- 
stalling "Scott"  apparatus  for  the  re- 
covery of  the  chemicals  used  in  mer- 
cerizing. As  remarked  before,  in 
Europe  it  is  the  practice  of  the  trade  to 
do  this,  and  manufacturers  there  save 
nearly  all  of  the  cost  of  chemicals  that 
they  formerly  incurred  before  they 
used  this  apparatus.  The  caustic,  by 
means  above  referred  to,  is  won  back 
from  either  piece,  hank,  or  warp  goods. 
Same  is  then  purified  and  concen- 
trated up  to  strength  again,  ready  for 
use  in  the  mercerizing  batli.   No.  63, 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


91 


OFFICIAL  NEGLIGENCE. 


I  will  not  take  up  space  here  dis- 
cussing the  inefficiency  of  help,  man- 
agement of  same,  or  setting  and  oper- 
ating of  machinery,  as  these  subjects 
are  already  being  discussed  ex- 
haustively, but  will  try  to  point  out 
a  few  defects  which  cause  a  total  or 
almost  total  loss  of  time,  energy  and 
money,  but  which  receive  little  atten- 
tion from  our  overseers  and  man- 
agers, until  they  have  cost  hundreds 
or  possibly  thousands  of  dollars. 

I  speak  of  the  negligence  of  over- 
seers and  superintendents  in  allowing 
guards,  and  blinds  to  remain  off  of 
dangerous  places,  dangerous  belts 
and  projecting  set  screws,  not  being 
boxed  or  covered,  and  not  paying 
proper  attention  to  shafting  and  pul- 
leys, allowing  hangers,  pulleys  and 
couplings  to  become  loose,  and  cause 
serious  accidents. 

Several  years  ago  I  took  charge 
of  a  room,  and  upon  looking 
around  my  first  day  found  several 
blinds  off  which  covered  dangerous 
gears.  I  had  them  all  hooked  up,  and 
put  in  place  with  the  exception  of 
one  which  was  broken  beyond  repair, 
so  I  went  at  once  and  ordered  some. 
Two  days  later  a  seven  year  old  boy 
lost  his  hand  in  that  gear,  and  the 
manager  wanted  to  discharge  some 
one  because  the  blind  was  off,  but  I 
called  his  attention  to  the  fact  that 
the  blind  had  been  off  for  five  months, 
and  that  I  had  ordered  some  my  first 
day  on  the  job. 

OVERLOADED  BELTS. 
Another  time  I  called  the  attention 
of  the  manager  to  an  overloaded  28- 
inch  belt  driving  a  4J-inch  shaft 
with  bearings  eleven  feet  apart.  Of 
course,  this  was  an  awful  strain  on 
the  shaft  as  the  belt  had  to  be  kept 
as  tight  as  a  fiddle  string.  The  man- 
ager wrote  the  mill  engineer,  and  he 
pronounced  the  drive  all  right.  A 
few  months  later    the    shaft  broke 


bringing  down  about  10,000  pounds  of 
other  shafting  and  pulleys,  and  break- 
ing considerable  other  machinery,  but 
fortunately  no  one  was  seriously  in- 
jured. Counting  the  cost  of  replace- 
ment, and  about  fourteen  days  hold- 
up in  production  when  the  mill  was 
making  about  $500  per  day,  it  does 
not  take  much  figuring  t.o  show  that 
the  loss  was  around  $10,000  for  this 
one  accident,  and  it  was  very  fortu- 
nate that  the  company  did  not  have 
damage  suits  for  twice  this  much. 
When  the  drive  was  replaced  a  51- 
inch  shaft  with  extra  hanger  in  the 
centre  took  the  place  of  the  4|-inch 
shaft  with  no  hanger  in  the  centre. 
Question,  can  any  one  suggest  a  bet- 
ter investment  than  it  would  have 
been  to  put  an  extra  hanger  in  and 
prevented  the  above  accident? 

On  starting  another  room  I  called 
the  attention  of  the  nianager  to  the 
fact  that  a  2i-inch  shaft  in  an  eleven 
foot  bay  was  not  sufficient  to  carry 
six  to  seven  heavy  cast  iron  pulleys 
400  revolutions  per  minute,  but 
he  answered  that  the  shops 
that  built  those  shafts  knew 
what  they  would  stand.  He  happen- 
ed to  be  near  when  the  belt  that 
drove  four  of  the  shafts  was  put  on, 
and  he  certainly  had  a  bad  scare. 
Fortunately  we  were  near  the  engine 
room  and  got  the  engine  stopped  be- 
fore it  got  up  to  speed,  otherwise 
those  shafts  would  have  come  down 
in  about  30  seconds. 

The  point  I  wish  to  make  here  is 
that  the  manager  would  often  do  well 
to  give  more  consideration  to  such 
suggestions,  coming  from  the  over- 
seer who  is  working  around  such  ap- 
pliances every  day,  and  has  a  chance 
to  learn  from  actual  experience  what 
such  appliances  will  stand  in  every 
day  service.  Instead  they  often  treat 
the  overseer  with  disdain,  and  bow  to 
the  decision  of  the  mill  engineer  who 
seldom  sees  the  object  of  discussion 
except  in  blue  prints. 
HOW  TO  PREVENT  ACCIDENTS. 

To  prevent  such  accidents  I  would 


92 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


suggest  that  each,  mill  have  a  good 
man  who  can  see  things,  (the  master 
mechanic  should  do),  go  through  the 
mill  at  regular  intervals,  say  once 
each  month,  and  look  for  everything 
which  might  possibly  contribute  to  an 
accident,  large  or  small,  from  the  re- 
placing of  a  work  bearing,  to  the  re- 
arranging   of  a  shaft  or  belt  drive. 

These  larger  ideas  should  be  put 
before  the  manager  who  should  con- 
sider seriously  any  suggestion  made 
by  the  one  inspecting  and  give  or- 
ders according  to  his  decision. 

The  one  inspecting  should  have 
blanks  for  each  department  in  which 
he  should  name  any  defect  he  should 
find  in  that  department,  sign  and  file 
one  on  the  manager's  desk  as  well 
as  give  one  to  the  overseer  of  that  de- 
partment. This  would  be  an  in- 
centive to  each  overseer  who  would 
strive  to  keep  a  perfect  score. 

The  inspector  should  also  have  re- 
ports showing  what  he  has  done  to 
prevent  accidents  of  any  kind,  this 
may  be  the  strengthening  of  a  guard 
rail,  putting  a  locking  device  on  some 
stop  motion,  or  putting  an  extra 
light  over  some  dangerous  machine, 
or  dark  stairway,  and  many  other 
things  too  numerous  to  mention  here. 

I  knew  a  boy  whose  neck  was  brok- 
en while  looking  over  the  guard  rail 
of  an  elevator.  If  the  guard  rail  had 
been  a  few  inches  higher  this  acci- 
dent would  have  been  averted.  An- 
other boy  fell  through  an  elevator 
shaft  where  there  was  no  guard.  A 
carpenter  could  have  made  one  in  a 
short  time  and  there  would  have  been 
no  accident. 

Such  accidents  as  these  would 
surely  be  prevented,  if  there  was  a 
man  looking  for  just  such  things,  and 
these  precautions  will  pay  dividends 
in  more  ways  than  one.  First  you 
save  life  and  limb;  second,  you  save 
the  labor  of  your  people;  third,  the 
good  name  of  your  mill  and  fourth, 
damage  suits  for  injuries. 

ANOTHER  POINT. 

If  the  above  suggestions  are  car- 


ried out  the  mills  would  not  be  com- 
pelled to  carry  liability  insurance  to 
protect  themselves.  It  is  very  doubt- 
ful if  it  pays  to  carry  liability  insur- 
ance even  now,  with  no  special  care 
given  to  safety  appliances  as  a  few 
figures  will  show.  The  American 
Manufacturers  pay  out  annually 
twenty-three  million  dollars  in  pre- 
miums for  liability  insurance.  The 
injured  do  not  get  more  than  forty 
per  cent  of  this,  and  they  will  aver- 
age paying  thirty-five  per  cent  of  this 
to  lawyers  for  prosecuting  their 
claims.  This  leaves  less  than  six 
million  dollars  going  to  the  injured 
while  the  balance,  seventeen  million 
dollars,  goes  to  the  insurance  com- 
panies, and  shyster  lawyers.  Why 
not  save  the  greater  portion  of  this 
seventeen  million  dollars  each  year 
by  preventing  all  accident  possible, 
and  coming  to  an  equitable,  and  ami- 
cable agreement  without  paying  out  in- 
surance premiums,  and  lawyer's  fees. 
I  believe  that  with  good  inspection 
most  of  our  mills  would  save  enough 
in  replacements  alone  to  cover  all 
damages  they  may  have  to  pay  out 
for  injuries,  once  the  system  is  thor- 
oughly installed,  and  have  the  amount 
they  are  paying  out  now  for  liability 
insurance  to  add  to  the  right  side  of 
their  balance  sheets. 

I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  the  over- 
seers or  managers  of  cotton  mills  are 
slovens  or  dolt  heads,  on  the  other 
hand,  I  think  as  a  whole  that  they  are 
thoroughly  alive,  alert  and  progess- 
ive,  but  their  time  is  largely  taken 
up  in  getting  the  greatest  number  of 
pounds  of  good  product  possible, 
hence  the  need  of  an  inspector  who 
can  concentrate  his  mind  one  or  two 
days  each  month  on  the  prevention 
of  accidents. 

It  may  prove  a  good  investment  to 
print  small  slips  upon  which  are  in- 
terpreted in  concise  form  the  laws  on 
"contributory  negligence"  ''risk  of 
trade"  and  the  fellow  servant  laws, 
and  put  one  into  each  pay  envelope 
until   the  people  thoroughly  under- 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SU GGESTI OlTs. 


stand  their  risks  and  rights,  and 
there  will  be  much  less  discord  and 
legal  procedure  in  coming  to  a  settle- 
ment in  case  of  injuries.  Ignorance 
is  the  base  of  all  contention. 

The  hands  will  surely  read  anything 
they  find  in  their  pay  envelope.  The 
merchants  have  found  this  out,  and 
find  it  a  good  investment  to  furnish 
pay  envelopes  to  corporations  upon 
which  they  can  advertise  their  house. 
Would  it  not  pay  the  corporations  to 
thus  teach  their  people  their  wishes 
in  regard  to  themselves  and  their  fel- 
low workers?    I  think  it  would. 

No.  64. 


ADAPTABILITY  OF  WOOL 
OILS. 


Since  our  former  articles  on  wool 
oils,  we  are  pleased  to  note  the  interest 
woolen  manufacturers  have  taken  in 
the  selection  of  their  oils  for  wool. 
The  woolen  business  is  better  at  the 
present  time  than  it  has  been  for  some 
years,  and  it  is  really  pleasing  to  see 
some  of  the  nice  fabrics  that  are  be- 
ing turned  out,  both  in  design  and 
texture. 

Quite  a  few  of  these  are  directly 
due  to  their  selection  of  a  wool  oil 
suited  to  the  fabric  being  made.  There 
are  quite  a  number  of  wool  oils  on  the 
market,  which  we  have  no  desire  to 
criticise  except  for  the  fact  that  they 
are  offered  to  manufacturers  in  one 
grade  only,  without  a  thought  of  the 
fabric  to  be  made  or  the  stock  used  in 
same. 

For  instance,  a  stock  composed  of 
i  blood  wool  would  require  a  different 
oil  than  one  made  of  |  blood.  One 
composed  entirely  of  shoddy  would 
require  an  oil  different  from  either  of 
the  above.  The  size  of  yarn  being 
made  would  also  determine  the  qual- 
ity of  oil  used. 

IN  THE  KNIT  GOODS  TRADE. 

In  the  knit  goods  trade,  a  great  many 
of  our  manufacturers  prefer  to  run 


without  an  oil  on  their  stock.  By  do- 
ing this,  they  do  not  get  the  real  prof- 
itable results  they  should,  as  the 
amount  of  waste  from  the  carding  and 
spinning  processes  will  run  from  five 
to  seven  per  cent  more  than  if  they 
used  a  suitable  oil. 

Their  reason  for  doing  this  is  that 
they  are  afraid  that  it  will  leave  a  bad 
smell  on  their  goods  or  discolor  them. 
There  are  few  knitting  mills  but  what 
either  bleach  their  goods  or  in  some 
other  manner  remove  the  natural 
odors  of  the  fibre. 

The  proper  oil  to  use  on  knit  goods 
is  an  oil  that  will  not  become  rancid 
or  smell,  and  in  bleaching  will  entire- 
ly disappear.  Such  an  oil  will  pay  for 
itself  many  times  over  in  the  card  and 
spinning  room,  in  the  saving  of  waste 
and  better  running  work. 

A  great  many  think  they  should  not 
put  oil  on  cotton.  It  is  just  as  neces- 
sary to  use  a  light  emulsion  of  the 
proper  oil  on  cotton,  on  the  woolen 
system  of  carding  and  spinning,  as  it 
is  to  use  it  on  wool.  The  clothing  on 
the  cards  is  kept  in  far  better  condi- 
tion. It  will  card  out  better  and  keep 
the  rings  and  rub  aprons  in  better 
shape. 

CARD  CLOTHING  RUSTED. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  even 
in  cotton  mills  where  they  are  carding 
dry  cotton,  where  a  mill  is  shut  down 
for  one  or  two  days  and  the  weather 
becomes  humid  through  rain  or  other 
causes,  that  the  card  clothing  becomes 
slightly  rusted.  This  is  not  noticed 
so  much  in  a  cotton  mill  as  it  is  in 
woolen  mills,  for  the  fact  that  on  a 
woolen  card  the  work  must  be  made 
directly  in  the  roving  to  be  spun  on 
the  mule.  Where  the  rusting  has  oc- 
curred on  a  woolen  card,  through  lack 
of  proper  oil  on  the  stock,  the  stock 
does  not  clear  itself  from  the  clothing, 
consequently  the  work  will  be  twitty 
and  uneven,  which  is  a  very  bad  fea- 
ture indeed  in  any  mill,  especially  In 
a  knitting  mill. 

I  have  great  respect  indeed  for  the 
good  judgment  and  gentlemanly  treat- 


94 


TEXTILE  DEFECT^    AND  SUGGESTION^. 


ment  from  the  manufacturers  and  su- 
perintendents all  over  the  country, 
and,  without  in  the  least  taking  the 
attitude  of  telling  them  what  they 
should  do,  I  canot  help  but  say,  that 
on  account  of  their  very  busy  work, 
they  sometimes  forget  this  important 
part  of  manufacturing. 

SELECTION  OF  OILS. 
The  proper  selection  of  oils  to  meet 
the  needs  of  different  kinds  of  stock 
is  too  often  overlooked,  and  left  to 
the  picking  room  man  to  put  the  oil 
on  the  stock  as  he  may  deem  proper. 
The  carders  are  really  more  interested 
in  this,  or  should  be,  than  the  picking 
room  man,  as  the  quality  and  amount 
of  oil  used  will  make  a  big  difference 
to  them  in  the  proper  carding  of  their 
stock  to  produce  good  and  even  yarns. 
There  are  men  in  the  wool  oil  trade 
to-day  that  have  spent  their  lives  in 
the  perfecting  of  wool  oils  for  differ- 
ent grades  of  stock,  and  from  their 
varied  experiences  in  woolen  and 
worsted  mills  throughout  the  United 
States  and  Europe,  are  very  glad  to 
meet  any  manufacturer  and  point  out 
to  him  to  the  best  of  their  ability  a 
most  suitable  oil  to  use  to  meet  their 
wants.  No.  65. 


HINTS  FOR  SPINNING 
ROOMS. 


To  have  a  spinning  room  run  in  a 
proper  manner  to  get  the  largest  pos- 
sible production  with  a  minimum  cost, 
there  must  be  a  proper  system  estab- 
lished and  closely  adhered  to  in  order 
to  get  results. 

It  is  to  be  taken  for  granted  that 
the  card  room  has  done  its  part  right, 
and  that  the  roving  comes  to  the 
spinner  properly  carded  and  of  such 
size  that  the  yarn  wanted  may  be 
spun  without  excessive  draft.  A  draft 
of  ten  should  not  be  exceeded  on 
medium  fine  counts. 

Having  the  draft  right,  the  twist 


should  be  uniform,  or  you  will 
get  cloth  with  an  uneven  appearance, 
caused  by  the  different  twist.  It  is 
a  quite  common  practice  for  spinners 
anxious  for  production,  to  take  out  a 
little  twist  at  times,  when  the  work 
is  running  well,  with  the  result,  on 
fine  goods  especially,  that  the  cloth 
has  a  wavy  and  uneven  appearance. 
I  have  known  of  cases  where,  with  a 
difference  of  10  per  cent  or  over  in 
the  twist,  the  yarn  went  into  the  same 
cloth. 

ONCE  IN  TWO  YEARS. 

All  frames  should  be  leveled  at  least 
once  in  two  years,  and  all  spindles 
plumbed  at  least  as  often  if  you  are 
turning  your  spindles  10,000  turns  per 
minute,  which  can  be  done  and  have 
the  work  run  well,  but  that  is  about 
the  limit  that  any  traveler  will  stand. 

All  travelers  should  be  changed  be- 
fore they  get  sharp  enough  to  cut 
the  yarn  or  to  fly  off.  If  the  spindles 
are  turning  10,000  times  per  minute, 
four  weeks  is  about  the  limit  of  profit- 
able use. 

Steel  rolls  should  be  taken  out  of 
the  frames  at  least  once  a  year  and 
well  cleaned,  and  the  flutes  carded 
out;  the  roll  stands  and  the  top  roll 
cap  bars  should  also  be  well  cleaned. 

It  is  a  good  idea  to  have  some  one 
hand  clean  and  oil  the  back  steel 
rolls  and  the  back  top  rolls  at  least 
once  in  two  weeks,  on  fine  work,  and 
at  least  once  a  week  on  coarse  work. 
Make  a  special  job  of  it  and  do  not 
eave  it  to  the  spinners,  as  some  of 
them  will  skip  this  if  it  is  left  for 
them  to  do. 

CARE  OF  THE  TOP  ROLLER. 

Good  care  of  the  top  rolls  is  one  of 
the  most  essential  points  of  good  run- 
ning work  in  the  spinning  room.  A 
great  deal  of  trouble  and  consequent 
damage  to  the  yarn  may  be  saved  by 
care  in  oiling,  and  this  can  best  be 
done  by  a  special  hand  to  oil  the 
front  top  rolls,  as  too  much  oil  spoils 
as  many,  if  not  more,  rolls  than  too 
little.  When  front  rolls  are  not  turn- 
ing over  120  revolutions  per  minute, 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


95 


If  the  saddles  are  oiled  once  in  two 
lays,  and  the  ends  of  rolls  in  the  cap 
bars  once  a  week,  there  should  be  no 
trouble;  if  a  higher  speed  than  this  is 
used,  the  rolls  should  be  oiled  every 
day. 

The  front  rolls  should  be  kept  clean, 
and  the  top  clearer  boards  should  be 
cleaned  at  stated  times.  All  under 
clearers  should  be  kept  clear  of  waste 
at  all  times. 

All  back  top  rolls  should  be  kept 
In  good  condition  and  regularly  in- 
spected. It  is  a  good  practice  to  have 
the  second  hand  of  a  room  look  over 
his  rolls  personally,  in  addition  to  the 
regular  inspection,  replacing  all  rough, 
uneven,  and  spongy  rolls  with  good 
ones. 

Do  not  try  to  run  bad  rolls  in  the 
back  or  middle  if  you  want  good  yarn. 
An  actual  saving  in  rolls  can  be  made 
by  keeping  the  back  rolls  in  good  con- 
dition, besides  making  a  better  quali- 
ty of  yarn. 

CLEAN  ROVING  CREELS. 

All  roving  creels  should  be  kept 
clean,  and  the  lint  should  be  wiped 
or  mopped  up  with  a  small  mop.  The 
creels  should  never  be  fanned  or 
blown  out,  as  the  lint  will  catch  on  to 
the  threads  and  make  bunches.  This 
is  still  done  in  a  good  many  mills 
and  is  the  cause  of  much  trouble, 
as  it  shows  up  bad  in  the  cloth. 

Ring  rails  and  separators  should  be 
cleaned  regularly,  and  if  this  is  done, 
it  will  prevent  much  of  the  loading 
of  the  travelers  and  save  many  bro- 
ken ends. 

''Cleanliness  is  next  to  godliness'* 
and  in  a  spinning  room,  the  cleaner 
and  freer  from  lint  that  you  can  keep 
the  rolls,  travelers,  rings,  separators 
and  spindles,  the  nearer  you  will  come 
to  having  a  perfect  running  room. 

DO  NOT  UNDER  TIME. 
Have  la  time  for  everything  and 
have  it  done  on  time,  and  you  can  get 
95  per  cent  of  production,  and  deliver 
to  the  warper  97  per  cent  of  the  roving 
received  from  the  carder  in  the  shape 


of  good  yarn.  This  is  about  as  well 
as  can  be  done  with  carded  stock; 
with  combed  stock,  it  can  be  improved 
upon  somewhat. 

The  spinner's  waste,  roving  and 
stock,  should  not  exceed  two  per  cent, 
while  the  sweepings  will  be  about  one 
per  cent. 

The  yarn  waste  caused  by  slack 
bands,  snarled  and  single  yarn,  should 
not  exceed  1-100  of  1  per  cent  or  one 
pound  of  waste  to  every  ten  thou- 
sand pounds  of  yarn  spun. 

High  speed  does  not  necessarily 
mean  large  production,  although  exces- 
sive waste;  but  if  every  end  is  up  and 
making  yarn,  it  shows  at  the  warper 
in  production  and  quality.     No.  66. 


CARDING  TROUBLES. 


Old  Town,  Me.,  March  28,  1910. 
Ed.  American  Wool.  &  Cotton  Reporter: 

I  will  endeavor  to  give  you  my  ideas 
on  defective  carding.  I  think 
that  a  large  percentage  of  de- 
fective carding  is  due  to  not  having 
suitable  cards  to  handle  the  class  of 
stock  we  are  running.  For  example, 
cotton  and  shoddy  mixes  which  are 
short  and  nubby  and  have  only  three 
cards  in  a  set; — it  is  next  to  impossible 
for  the  carder  to  do  a  good  job,  where- 
as if  you  give  the  same  carder  cards 
with  four  in  a  set,  he  can  do  a  good 
job  on  pretty  bad  stock.  Again,  poor 
results  are  often  due  to  poor  work- 
manship, as  we  all  well  know  that  a 
poor  workman  can  spoil  the  work  of 
the  best  carder. 

My  suggestion  for  the  best  method 
of  carding  is  D  &  F  four-cylinder 
cards,  about  48  inches  wide,  60  inches 
in  diameter,  with  first  two  cards  con- 
nected and  third  and  finisher  con- 
nected; with  Kemp  feed  between  sec- 
ond and  third,  and  fitted  with  D  &  F 
double  apron  condenser,  metallic 
breast  and  Bramwell  feed  for  this 
first  breaker;  and  with  those  properly 
ground,  and  set  with  proper  care, 
you  will  have  but  little,  if  any,  4^ 


96 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


fective  carding.  Often,  poor  carding 
is  done  with  too  harsh  a  fancy,  other 
times  by  fancy  not  properly  set  or 
perhaps  not  speeded  just  right,  but 
I  think  most  times  it  is  due  to  too 
stiff  a  fancy, — at  least  that  has  been 
my  experience — and  still  other  times, 
it  is  spoiled  after  leaving  the  cards, 
by  the  spinner  not  having  his  mules 
in  shape  or  not  having  the  proper 
knowledge  of  drawing  yarn.  I  think 
the  carder  to  avoid  trouble  should 
know  how  to  draw  yarn  himself. 

No.  67. 

COTTON  WARP  SIZING. 


The  last  few  years  have  given  me 
much  opportunity  to  see  into  many 
mills  and  observe  the  various  meth- 
ods adopted  in  sizing  cotton  warps  on 
the  Slasher  Sizing  Machine. 

Some  of  the  defects  are:  (1)  Irregu- 
larity in  sizing;  (2)  cros'sed  threads 
behind  the  lease  rods  in  the  loom; 
(3)  size  shedding  off  too  soon  in  the 
loom;  (4)  kinked  threads  in  the  warp 
showing  in  the  pieces;  (5)  undue 
wear  on  heddles  and  reeds  by  sizing. 

My  first  point  or  defect  is  "Irreg- 
ularity in  Sizing."  This  can  be 
caused  by  not  having  the  starches 
uniform  in  quality.  It  is  important 
to  keep  as  far  as  possible  to  one 
brand,  and  that  one  the  best.  I  think 
a  good  many  purchasing  agents  make 
a  serious  mistake  in  allowing  a  few 
cents  per  bag  to  influence  them,  es 
pecially  when  so  important  issues  are 
at  stake,  for  a  few  cents  saved  counts 
for  nothing  if  the  results  from  the 
loom  are  not  right. 

MANY  BLUNDERS. 
Many  blunders   are  made  by  not 
cooking  the  starch  long  enough  in  the 
size  kettle  to  get   out   the  best  it 
contains. 

Further,  the  deterioration  of  the 
cloth  on  the  squeeze  rollers  has  much 


io  answer  for  in  irregular  sized 
warps. 

There  is  a  very  common  rule  of 
thumb  way  adopted  by  most  boss 
slashers,  of  simply  handling  the  warp 
when  running  in  the  slasher  machine, 
and  from  their  long  experience  in 
so  doing,  deciding  from  this  practice 
the  weaving  quality  of  the  sizing  on 
the  warp.  This  method  is  very  unre- 
liable— for  no  man,  I  care  not  how 
long  his  experience  may  be  of  hand- 
ling a  sized  warp,  can  tell  to  three 
or  four  per  cent  how  much  isize  there 
is  on  a  warp,  and  here  lies  the  differ- 
ence between  a  good  or  a  poor  weav- 
ing warp. 

The  only  reliable  way  is  to  have 
the  first  warp  in  each  set  weighed 
after  it  is  sized  and  work  out  the 
percentage  of  size  on  it.  Then  get 
the  weaver's  report  and  if  the  warp 
has,  say,  14  per  cent  of  size  on  for  that 
quality,  make  that  the  standard  for 
all  future  lots  of  that  quality  by 
weighing  every  sized  warp  to  ascer- 
tain it,  and  so  on  for  each  quality 
until  a  regular  system  gives  uniform- 
ity to  every  warp  that  is  sized. 

THREE  QUALITIES. 

To  get  this  uniformity,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  have  three  qualities  of  cloth 
for  the  squeeze  rollers — coarse,  me- 
dium, and  fine — putting  on  the  one 
necessary  to  get  the  proper  percent- 
age of  size  for  the  results  necessary 
for  a  good  weave. 

Second — "Crossed  threads  behind 
the  lease  rods  in  the  loom." 

This  is  often  very  troublesome  to 
the  weaver,  causing  many  broken 
threads  in  the  lease  rods.  The  cause 
of  this  is  in  the  slashing  machine,  by 
the  slasher  tender's  expanding  or  con- 
tracting the  reed  to  get  the  warp  the 
right  width  on  the  weaver's  beam: 
the  six  or  eight  threads  in  each  dent 
roll  over  each  other  as  they  leave 
the  reed  and  pass  on  to  the  weaver's 
beam;  this  is  done  several  times 
in  the  running  of  each  warp,  thus 
causing  the  thread  to  be  crossed  all 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


97 


the  way  along.  The  remedy  for  this 
defect  is  placing  a  half  rod  in  the 
warp  between  the  reed  and  the  front 
rollers  near  the  smoother  rollers; 
this  half  rod  will  turn  back  the  rolled 
threads  every  time,  besides  acting  as 
an  additional  smoother. 

Other  uses  can  be  made  of  this 
half  rod  by  putting  a  string  in  at  the 
end  of  every  warp,  so  that  the  twister- 
in  could  get  alternate  threads,  and 
thus  keep  his  warp  straighter  than 
by  twisting  from  a  fine  reed  only. 

Third — ''Size  shedding  off  too  soon 
in  the  loom." 

INSUFFICIENTLY  COOKED  SIZE. 

This  is  when  the  insufficiently  cook- 
ed size  causes  the  mischief.  It  may 
have  got  onto  the  warp  and  given  the 
necessary  weight  for  the  percentage, 
but  if  it  is  not  properly  cooked,  it 
immediately  starts  chaffing  in  the 
loom  and  commences  to  fall  off. 
It  is,  therefore,  very  important  that 
the  size  be  boiled  long  enough  in  the 
size  kettle  to  develop  the  ''gluten" 
from  the  starch  and  flour  to  stay  on 
the  warp  until  it  gets  through  the 
heddles  and  reed- 

Fourth — "Kinked  thread  in  the 
warp  showing  in  pieces." 

There  are  at  least  two  causes  for 
this.  If  the  spools  are  not  all  tied 
in  full  into  the  warping  machine,  -and 
some  are  full  and  others  only  part- 
ly full,  the  latter  will  overrun  them- 
selves when  the  machine  knocks  off 
for  a  broken  thread,  and  this  slack 
will  get  onto  the  section  beam  and 
forward  to  the  pieces.  Another  cause 
is  by  the  spring  inside  the  expanding 
warper's  reed  getting  strained;  this 
will  make  the  dents  irregular,  caus- 
ing high  and  low  places  on  the  sec- 
tion beam,  which  will  in  turn  run  off 
slack  and  tight  in  the  slashing  ma- 
chine, causing  additional  kinks  in  the 
pieces. 

UNDUE  WEAR. 
Fifth — "Undue    wear    on  heddles 
and    reeds"    is    usually    caused  by 
having  too  harsh  a  size  on  the  warps. 


for  want  of  more  "softening"  in  the 
size,  or  from  drying  the  warps  too 
much.  And  my  experience  has 
brought  me  to  the  conclusion  that 
cylinder-dried  warps  have  a  lot  to  an- 
swer for  in  this  fault  over  air-dried 
warps.  I  am  so  thoroughly  convinced 
that  the  hot  air  dried  warp  is  so  much 
superior,  that  I  have  found  that  weav- 
ers have  noticed  the  difference  and 
asked  for  the  latter  in  preference. 

I  think  you  will  agree  with  me  that 
when  these  five  defects  are  overcome, 
the  advantages  to  the  weavers  and 
loom  fixers  will  be  much  increased, 
besides  having  a  much  better  yard- 
age from  the  looms  and  a  correspond- 
ing profit  to  the  mill  owners. 

No.  68. 



TWIST  IN  THE  DRAWING. 


I  received  your  copy  of  "Prize  Es- 
says," and  I  consider  that  it  contains 
invaluable  information  to  any  man 
engaged  in  the  textile  business.  It 
is  in  no  sense  a  text-book.  It  con- 
tains matter  that  cannot  be  found  in 
any  text-book.  You  might  call  it  a  com- 
pendium of  textile  lore  from  the  inside. 

But  a  work  of  that  description  can 
never  be  considered  complete.  For 
instance,  in  all  the  articles  on  worst- 
ed yarn,  there  was  a  general  same- 
ness; I  did  not  see  any  idea  given  as 
to  twist  in  the  drawing,  which  is  cer- 
tainly an  important  factor. 

The  lower  the  stock,  the  firmer  the 
twist  ought  to  be,  and  whether  the 
stock  is  low  or  fine,  the  carriers  ought 
to  be  in  and  doing  their  duty. 
THE  FOLLOWING  IS  WRONG. 

In  the  majority  of  worsted  mills 
can  be  seen  carriers  taken  out  and 
put  on  the  backboard  of  the  drawing 
boxes.  It  is  all  wrong,  they  ought  to 
be  in,  and  where  they  are  taken  out 
to  avoid  hard  ends,  it  is  because  the 
ends  put  up  behind  the  box  are  un- 


98 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


even,  and  the  twist,  running  to  the 
thin  places,  causes  the  ends  to  run 
hard  and  spoil  rollers;  and  right  here 
let  me  say  that  the  fault  of  uneven 
ends  in  worsted-drawing  is  mostly 
caused  by  either  having  the  stock  too 
tight  in  the  fallers,  or  the  front  draw- 
ing-off  roller  being  too  much  below  the 
fallers. 

If  the  ends  are  even,  as  they  ought 
to  be,  it  is  surprising  how  much  twist 
you  can  put  in  without  hurting  your 
drawing-off  rollers.  If  the  ends  are 
not  even,  you  will  have  spoiled  rollers 
and  bad  work,  no  matter  how  soft  a 
twist  you  have.  A  fairly  firm  twist 
is  essential  to  good  work  in  a  worsted 
drawing  room,  and  it  may  be  con- 
sidered a  fact  that  all  carriers,  both 
in  drawing  and  spinning,  ought  to  ue 
in  and  doing  their  duty,  which  con- 
sists in  holding  the  twist  during  the 
drafting  operation.  Any  worsted  draw- 
er would  laugh  at  the  idea  of  putting 
stock  through  a  drawing  box  without 
any  twist  in  it,  yet,  that  is  what  hpi 
does  practically,  when  he  takes  out 
his  bottom  carrier.  The  writer  used 
to  work  at  a  fairly 

GOOD-SIZED  MILL. 

There  were  four  spinners,  and  some 
times  it  happened  that  all  four  were 
spinning  the  same  lot,  say  l-24s,  and 
each  individual  spinner  w^as  allowed 
to  put  in  as  many  turns  as  he  thought 
proper.  Between  the  four  spinners, 
the  turns  per  inch  would  vary  from 
11  per  inch  to  14  per  inch,  and  they 
w^ere  woven  in  plain  weaves,  indiscrim- 
inately.   You  can  imagine  the  result. 

Some  limes  a  spinner  is  called  up 
to  the  perch,  and  he  is  accused  of 
mixing  filling,  because  of  a  heavy  bar 
of  filling  across  the  cloth.  He  waxes 
indignant,  and  says  it  is  mixed  in  the 
filling  room.  How  can  he  spin  two 
different  counts  on  one  side?  But  he 
can. 

THE  REMEDY. 
If  his   top  drawing-off  rollers  are 
not  kept  well  oiled,  if  tney  are  per- 
mitted to  get  dry  and  wear  them- 


selves to  a  tight,  dry,  gripping  fit 
on  the  arbor  of  the  roller,  mat  roller 
is  liable  to  run  slow,  and  I  have  seen 
82s  spun  on  a  side  that  was  supposed 
to  be  spinning  36s.  It  is  easily  seen, 
because  both  the  bobbing  and  the  roll- 
er have  a  light  brown  appearance,  due 
to  the  friction.  The  remedy  is  to  take 
out  the  brass  and  clean  it  out  with 
a  i-inch  or  i-inch  round  file. 

But,  all  the  f^ame,  many  a  spinner 
has  been  discharged  because  he  did 
not  know  it.  No.  69. 


THE  ENGLISH  AND 

METRICAL  SYSTEMS. 


A  standard  measure  of  length  ap- 
pears at  first  sight  to  be  very  simple, 
as  being  only  a  metal  bar  of  almost  anj 
length  according  to  the  unit  of  a  coun 
try,  and  the  comparison  of  differ 
ent  standards  does  not  seem  to  present 
any  difficulty;  but  if  we  look  into  the 
matter,  we  will  discover  that  the  stand- 
ards are  referred  to  as  some  natural, 
invariable  length.  We  also  discover 
that  the  comparison  of  one  standard 
with  another  differs  as  given  by  reduc- 
tions carried  to  great  apparent  exact- 
ness. 

It  has  been  said  that  one  forty-thou- 
sandth part  of  an  inch  is  supposed  to 
be  the  smallest  length  that  can  be 
measured  with  exactness,  with  an  ul- 
timate possibility  of  one-millionth  part. 
It  is  also  said  that  the  temperature  af- 
fects the  length  to  such  an  extent  that 
it  is  believed  that  the  limit  can  only 
be  reached  at  a  standard  temperature 
of  eighty-five  degrees  Fahrenheit  to 
avoid  the  effect  of  heat  of  the  body. 

The  metre  is  the  ten-millionth  part 
of  the  earth's  quadrant,  and  the  yard 
is  the  36-39.13929ths  of  the  seconds 
pendulum  at  London,  England.    It  is 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


99 


thought  practically  that  the  yard  can- 
not be  recovered  from  its  natural  basis 
with  exactness. 

Probably  three-fourths  of  the  scien- 
tific world  is  conducted  on  the  metric 
system.  Machine  and  shop  work  in 
countries  having  adopted  the  metri- 
cal system  for  standard  is  regulated 
by  the  milo-metre.  The  English  unit 
is  the  inch  or  fraction  of  the  inch. 

To  compare  both  the  metric  and  Eng- 
lish systems,  a  person  should  under- 
take such  a  problem  or  example  as 
finding  the  value  of  a  third  or  a  quar- 
ter of  a  mile,  or  the  value  of  a  pound 
in  ounces,  grammes,  etc.,  and  then  do 
the  same  thing  with  the  metrical  sys- 
tem, and  he  will  quickly  discover  the 
enormous  advantage  of  the  latter  sys- 
tern.  For  example,  to  find  the  number 
of  grains  in  one-half  pound  it  is  nec- 
essary to  multiply  437.5  by  8,  or  divide 
7,000  by  2;  while  to  find  the  number  of 
centigrammes  in  one  gramme  the  point 
' :  moved  tw^o  places  to  the  right. 

EXAMPLE. 
English.  Metric. 
IG  divided  by  2  equals  8  1.00  gramme 

437.5  100.  centigrammes 

8 

350.00  grains  in  V2  lb. 

For  a  better  and  clearer  explanation, 
take  two  examples  in  reductions. 
ENGLISH  EXAMPLE. 

Reduce  to  feet  and  inches  three 
yards  and  eight  inches. 

1  ft.  equals  12  inches 
1  yd.  equals  3  feet 
S  X  3  equals  9  ft.  12 
9 

108  plus  8  equals  116  inches 
METRIC  EXAMPLE. 
Reduce  to  decimetres  and  centimetres 
three  metres  and  eight  centimetres. 

3  X  10  equals  30 

SO  X  10  equals  300  plus  8  equals  308  c.  m. 

In  the  metric  system  all  the  yarns 
are  based  upon  the  weight  in  grammes 
of  1,000  metres,  which  is  considered 
the  uniform  standard  unit  of  length; 
the  use  of  decimals  doing  away  with 
the  more  complicated  fractions  of  the 
present  English  system. 


For  the  next  example  we  will  take 
a  certain  length  of  yarn  that  weighs 
1,234  grammes,  which  can  be  easily 
reduced  to  kilogrammes,  hectogrammes, 
dekagrammes  and  grammes  in  the  fol- 
lowing manner:  The  number  in  the 
thousandths'  place  represents  the  num- 
ber of  kilogrammes,  the  number  in 
the  hundredths'  place  represents  the 
number  of  hectogrammes,  in  the  tenths' 
place  the  number  of  dekagrammes,  and 
in  the  units'  place  grammes.  The 
weights  given  above  could  and  should 
be  read  as  follows:  one  kilogramme, 
two  hectogrammes,  three  deka- 
grammes and  four  grammes.  Thisf 
shows  the  great  saving  in  both  time 
and  labor  which  could  hardly  be  ac- 
complished in  the  English  system. 
From  the  results  given  above,  a  rule 
for  reducing  weight  and  length  in  this 
system  may  be  considered  correct. 

EXAMPLE. 

I-Iow  many  grammes  are  there  in 
123  centigrammes?  Centigrammes  are 
moved  two  places  from  grammes; 
therefore,  the  point  must  be  moved  two 
places  to  the  left. 

123  centigrammes  equals  1.23  grammes. 

Comparison  of  the  English  and 
metric  systems  as  applied  to  cloth 
analysis. 

ENGLISH  DATA. 
Fabric:— Covering  (linen). 
1  sq.  in.  weighs  2.2  grains. 
34  threads  per  inch  weighs  1.1  grains. 
34  picks  per  inch  weighs  1.1  grains. 
Width  inside  selvedges  25  grains  plus  V2  inch 

for  selvedge. 
2, 2  X  36  X  25  divided  by  437.5  equals  4.525  weight 
of  1  yard  of  cloth. 


437. 5)1980. 0f4.o25  22 

1760  0  36 

23000  132 

21875  66 

11250  792 

8750  25 

25000  3960 

21S75  1584 


1980.0 

34  X  25  equals  850  threads  in  warp. 
34 
25 

170 

6S 

850 


100 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


34  X  7000  divided  by  1.1  x  36  x  300  equals  20.0 
counts  of  warp  yarn. 


36 
36 


39.6 


39.6 

300 


11880.0 


11880)238000(20.033 
23760 

40000 
35640 


34 
7000 


238000 


43600 
35640 


7960 


Counts  of  filling  yarn  are  figured  tlie 
same  as  the  counts  of  warp  yarn. 

34  X  25  X  16  divided  by  300  x  20.033  equals  2.262 
weight  of  warp  yarn  in  1  yard  of  cloth. 


20.033 
300 


6009.900 


25 
34 


100 
75 


850 
16 


5100 
850 


1.9)13600.0(2.262 
12019  8 


378220 
360594 

176260 
120198 

56062 

Weight  of  filling  yarn  in  one  yard  of 
cloth  is  figured  same  as  above. 

Proof:— 2.262  plus  2.262  equals  4.524 
METRIC  DATA. 
Fabric  :--Covering  (linen). 
1  sq.  d.  m.  equals  2.208  grammes. 
134    threads    per    d.    m.    weigh    equals  1.104 
grammes. 

134  picks  per  d.  m.  weigh  equals  1.104  grammes. 
6.S  d.  ra.  wide  inside  selvedge. 
Plus  .127  d.  m.  for  selvedge. 
6.35   X  10   X  2.208  equals  139.7   grammes  in  1 
metre  of  cloths. 

6.25 
10 

63.50 
22 

1270 
1270 

139.70 


G7 


JWOfTx  1.1 

5 


equals  12.181  counts  of  warp  j'arn  in  1 
yard  of  cloth. 


X  1.1  equals  5.5)6.7.0(12.181 
55 


120 
110 


100 
55 


450 
440 


10 


The  counts  of  filling  yarn  are  figured 
the  same  as  the  counts  of  warp. 

6.35  X  134  equals  850.90  threads  in  warp. 
6.35 
134 


850.90 

S50.90  divided  by  12.181  equals  69.85  weight  of 
warp  yarn  in  1  metre  of  cloth. 
12.181)850.90(69.85 
730.86 


120040 
109629 


104110 
97448 


66620 


5715 

Weight  of  filling  yarn  is  figured  same 
as  weight  of  warp. 

Proof:— 69.85  plus  69.85  equals  139.70  weight  of 
1  metre. 

No.  70. 


TEXTILE  PAPERS. 


I  want  to  say  a  few  words  in  regard 
to  textile  papers  which  I  will  write  as 
briefly  as  possible.  I  do  not  consider 
myself  a  very  intelligent  man  but  will 
say  just  what  I  think  of  textile  papers. 
I  think  this  idea  of  mill  knowledge 
given  through  the  different  textile  pa- 
pers one  of  the  best  things  carders 
and  spinners  have,  as  we  not  only  get 
the  news  from  these  papers  but  we  get 
lessons  on  all  textile  work,  written  by 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


101 


our  best  textile  men.  These  lessons 
serve  as  a  teacher  to  young  men  in- 
terested in  the  textile  business  and 
many  times  explain  a  point  that  one 
may  be  puzzled  over.  In  such  cases  we 
find  written  by  some  good  textile  man 
explanations  which  are  of  great  help 
to  us.  I  think  any  intelligent  young 
man  can,  by  the  use  of  these  papers 
and  working  in  a  mill,  become  a  first- 
class  mill  man.  I  also  think  that  any 
young  man  who  wants  to  become  an 
expert  in  the  line  of  textile  work  will 
find  any  first-class  textile  paper  to  serve 
as  guide  and  a  great  helper  for  him. 

One  may  make  a  mistake  in  spelling, 
but  I  don't  think  any  young  man  that 
wants  to  be  a  first-class  mill  man  will 
make  any  mistake  by  paying  two  or 
three  dolars  per  year  for  any  first  class 
textile  paper.  By  the  use  of  these  pa- 
pers one  can  get  the  idea  of  so  many 
good  textile  men  on  textile  work.  It 
is  for  this  reason  that  I  think  it  a 
guide  and  helper  for  the  building  up 
of  the  young  textile  men  and,  no  doubt, 
all  good  textile  men  like  to  write  les- 
sons on  textile  work  that  they  may 
help  one  another.  You  may  say  when 
you  read  this  over:  well  old  boy,  you 
have  another  think  coming;  if  I  have 
I  will  think  it,  and  think  this  as  well. 
So  come  on — carders  and  spinners — and 
write  a  lesson  and  do  our  best — and  if 
we  can't  win  in  the  contest,  we  may 
help  some  of  the  interested  readers. 

If  this  letter  appears  in  the 
American  Wool  and  Cotton  Reporter, 
please  don't  get  the  idea  that  these 
people  asked  me  to  write  an  article 
on  textile  papers  and  receive  money 
for.  such  an  article,  for  I  am  not.  1 
wrote  this  article  because  it  was  im- 
pressed upon  my  mind  to  do  so,  and  if 
you  read  this,  I  trust  all  you  good 
mill  men  will  agree  with  me.  This  is 
my  idea  of  textile  papers  and  I  can't 
help  it;  as  I  said  at  the  first  of  my 
article,  not  being  a  very  intelligent 
man,  I  will  do  the  best  I  can  for  my- 
self and  the  other  cotton  mill  men.  So 
I  will  close  with  best  wishes  to  textile 
papers  and  all  mill  men.         No.  71. 


DEFECTS  IN  MODERN 
METHODS. 


Whatever  improvement  we  attempt 
in  carding  must  be  preceded  by  an  ad- 
vance in  the  methods  of  the  picker- 
room.  The  practice  of  having  the  card- 
er do  the  work  of  the  picker  in  remov- 
ing the  heavy  impurities  is  wrong,  in 
both  theory  and  practice. 

All  up-to-date  carders  have  the  fol- 
lowing objects  in 

MIXING  THE  COTTON 
from  a  number  of  bales — (1)  to  make 
all  mixings  as  large  as  possible,  (2) 
to  blend  the  cotton  as  much  as  pos- 
sible. As  regards  the  first  object — cot- 
ton cannot  be  worked  as  well  when  a 
tew  bales  are  opened  and  fed  into  a 
bale-breaker  as  when  a  large  mixing 
is  made  to  last  at  .  least  five  days, 
which  allows  the  cotton  to  assume  its 
normal  condition.  Regarding  the  sec- 
ond object — on  all  classes  of  cotton, 
the  more  bales  you  mix  together,  the 
evener  the  yarn  will  be.  As  each  loi 
of  cotton  varies  bale  from  bale,  the 
mixing  should  be  built  up  in  layers,  so 
that  no  two  bales  of  the  same  mark 
will  come  together;  this  establishes 
an  average  quality  of  grade  in  the 
lot.  Again — if  cotton  is  allowed  to 
stand  a  few  days  before  using,  the 
temperature  and  humidity  in  the  cot- 
ton will  be  the  same  as  the  cotton  in 
process,  the  yarn  will  not  only  be 
more  even — but  stronger,  and  there 
will  be  less  waste;  because  even  work 
will  run  through  without  much  break- 
ing of  ends. 

We  find  to-day  in  most  new  mills 
equipped  with  the  so-called  bale-break- 
er and  automatic  feed-conveyer  sys- 
tem— the  cotton  used  directly  from 
the  bale,  that  is,  a  bale  is  opened  and 
fed  at  each  breaker. 

The  writer  could  not  help  asking 
himself  while  standing  on  the  floor 


102 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


of  a  picker-room  having  this  new  sys- 
tem— 

ARE  WE  GOING  BACK? 

I  think  we  are,  because  if  the  two  ob- 
jects I  have,  I  think,  proven  must  be 
attained  in  the  old  system  of  picking 
to  produce  a  strong  and  even  yarn, 
why  not  in  the  new  system? 

This  new  system  is  all  right,  only 
too  much  is  expected  of  it.  The  only 
advantage  that  can  be  really  claimed 
for  it  over  the  automatic  boxes  fed  by 
hand  is  that  it  does  away  with  help, 
and  it  should  be  understood  that  it 
will  not  remedy  a  faulty  mix- 
ing. It  is  a  system  much 
misunderstood,  and  uneven  yarn  must 
be  expected  when  a  bale  of  cotton  is 
opened  and  fed  directly  at  each  break- 
er; because  cotton  in  such  a  state  will 
not  be  opened  by  the  action  of  the 
beater — producing  a  lap  containing 
small  tufts  full  of  foreign  matter;  and 
consequently  the  carder  is  called  on 
to  do  some  of  the  work  that  should 
be  done  by  the  picking  machines. 

Some  overseers  having  charge  of 
this  new  system  claim  that  on  ac- 
count of  the  cotton  being  so  regularly 
fed  automatically,  the  laps  produced 
at  the  breaker  are  so  even  that  if  a 
lap  runs  out  when  four  laps  are  run- 
ning four  into  one  at  the  intermediate 
and  finisher  picker,  very  little  varia- 
tion is  noticed  in  the  finisned  lap  and 
card  sliver.  In  all  systems  of  picking 
using  eveners,  there  is 

ONE  CHIEF  CRITICISM 

that  may  be  made,  which  is,  that  the 
evener  motion  does  not  act  on  the 
stock  passing  through  it  until  at  least 
a  part  of  the  uneven  work  it  is  sup- 
posed to  correct  has  passed  beyond  its 
action.  As  all  the  irregularities  in 
the  lap  are  exactly  reproduced  in  the 
card-sliver,  and  all  dirt  not  remov- 
ed must  be  removed  by  the  card,  it  is 
absolutely  imperative  for  the  complete 
success  of  carding  to  have  good  laps 
to  start  with. 

Suppose  that  four  layers  of  lap  are 
running  four  into  one,  and  three  lay- 


ers only  are  allowed  to  run  through 
for  one  yard — we  have  a  great  length 
of  light  work  from  the  card,  because 
almost  all  cards  have  a  draft  from  80 
tO'  100.  For  the  convenience  of  calcu- 
lation we  will  assume  the  draft  of  the 
card  to  be  90.  Agpin  it  is  assumed 
that  a  part  of  the  lap  at  the  back  of 
the  card  contains  three  layers.  Then 
we  have  the  following  example  show- 
ing the  amount  of  light  work  a  short 
length  of  lap  will  cause,  that  does  not 
contain  the  proper  amount  of  doub- 
lings— 90  times  36  equals  3,240  inches, 
or  65  yards  of  card  sliver,  that  will 
cause  light  work  in  after  processes, 
and  also  waste. 

Imagine  10  bales  of  fluffy  cotton  to 
be  run  through  on  five  breakers,  then 
10  bales  of  wiry  cotton  run  through, 
following  the  10  bales  of  fluffy  cotton 
— what  would  be  the  result?  We  would 
have  cotton  gaining  at  each  process 
and  cotton  losing  a^  each  process.  It 
is  this  gain  and  loss  in  the  cotton  that 

MAKES  ALL  VARIATIONS, 

because  it  is  a  double  loss,  as  the  light 
strand  will  lose  twist  and  the  heavy 
strand  will  gain  twist.  It  will  be  seen 
that  roving  and  yarn  of  a  different 
diameter  would  be  the  result — which 
is  the  chief  trouble  in  all  mills;  be- 
cause on  a  speeder  the  bobbin  made 
from  a  heavy  strand  of  roving  will  in- 
crease in  diameter,  and  while  the 
majority  of  bobbins  on  the  speeder 
with  the  proper  diameter  and  tension 
will  run  all  right,  all  bobbins  made 
from  roving  of  a  larger  diameter  will 
continually  snap  at  the  eye  of  the 
flyer  presser  finger  and  become  more 
troublesome  as  the  bobbins  increase 
in  diameter.  This  is  owing  to  the  fact 
that  the  surface-speed  of  the  bobbin 
is  greater  than  the  surface-speed  of 
the  front  roll,  a  condition  that  should 
never  exist  on  any  fly-frame. 

In  the  spinning  we  have  almost  the 
same  trouble,  because  the  yarn  made 
from  heavy  roving  will  fill  the  bobbins 
in  less  time  than  the  yarn  made  from 
roving  of  a  proper  diameter.  This  ne- 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


103 


cessitates  the  stopping  of  the  frames 
making  heavy  yarn  until  the  bobbin 
making  the  right  number  of  yarn  is 
doffed.  It  would  be  a  poor  system  to 
doff  here  and  there  about  the  room; 
so,  as  stated  before,  the  only  way  to 
do  is  to  stop  the  fr'ames  where  the 
heavy  work  is  made,  thus — besides 
making  poor  work — losing  production. 

Some  overseers  having  charge  of 
this  new  system  have  some  trouble  at 
times  with  the 

CONVEYERS  CLOGGING  UP. 
This  trouble  is  experienced  in  mills 
where  the  distance  from  the  breaker 
and  conveyers  is  great  (especially  if 
the  distance  is  in  a  vertical  direction) 
when  using  heavy  cotton.  The  only 
remedy  for  this  trouble  is  to  instai 
a  number  7  condenser  instead  of  a 
number  9.  This  new  system  should  re- 
ceive the  same  care  and  attention  as 
the  old  system,  because  so  far  as  re- 
gards the  making  of  an  even  lap,  it 
has  no  advantage  over  the  old  system; 
and  I  think  the  reader  will  agree  that 
all  bales  should  be  blended  together  to 
produce  a  strong,  even  yarn  in  this 
system  of  picking  as  in  the  old  system. 

THE  "FANCY"  PATENT. 

Another  device  that  is  misunder- 
stood by  some  carders  and  superin- 
tendents is  a  card  attachment,  called 
a  fancy,  that  is  placed  between  the 
flats  and  doffer  in  front  of  a  card  run- 
ning waste. 

I  know  a  couple  of  superintendents 
who  are  now  experimenting  with  their 
cards,  and  they  really  believe  that  it 
is  making  much  stronger  yarn. 

The  up-to-date  mill  man  knows  that 
temperature  and  humidity  have  much 
effect  upon  the  tensile  strength  of  the 
cotton  fibres,  and  the  only  device  at 
the  present  time  that  will  help  the 
cotton  to  retain  its  tensile  strength 
during  manufacturing  is  a  humidifier. 
Any  device  that  will  give  a  combing 
action  to  the  fibres  will  injure  them. 
The  object  of  this  new  device  or 
"fancy"  is  to  remove  all  iseeds  and 
neps  from  the  cylinder,  because  when 


strips  or  waste  of  aiiy  kind  are  run 
through  a  card,  the  cylinder  and  dof- 
fer quickly  fill  with  seeds  and  other 
matter  contained  in  the  waste;  and 
this  necessitates  the  stripping  of  the 
card  many  times  a  day,  according  to 
the  stock  run  and  the  amount  of  work 
the  card  will  do.  This  device  is  sim- 
ply to  keep  the  cylinder  from  collect- 
ing dirt,  and  it  should  be  understood 
that  no  device  can  be  attached  to  any 
machine  that  will  make  the  cotton  fi- 
bres stronger.  This  fancy  revolves  at 
a  high  rate  of  speed,  and  great  care 
should  be  given  when  setting,  because 
if  set  too  deep  it  will  injure  the  foun- 
dation of  the  cylinder  fillet  to  such  an 
extent  as  will  require  the  re-covering 
of  the  cylinder.  As  this  fancy  consists 
of  ordinary  stripping  wire,  it  can  be 
seen  that  it  will  tear  away  any  surface 
composed  of  cloth.  One  good  rule  is 
to  set  it  so  it  will  remove  the  stock 
on  the  points  of  the  cylinder  wire  to 
show  a  space  of  one  inch. 

Are  we  going  back? — may  well  be 
asked  in  regard  to  these  so-called  new 
patented  ^'differential  motions",  and 
my  answer  is — yes — the  fact  remains 
that  there  is  no  movement  other  than 
the  old  style 

HOULDSWORTH  COMPOUND, 
that  will  give  the  b^.st  and  most  per- 
fect wind  without  much  trouble  and 
undue  breaking  of  cone  belts.  The 
winding-on  arrangement  connecting  the 
spindle  and  bobbin  together  was  pat- 
ented for  the  first  time  in  the  year 
1823.  Three  years  later,  Mr.  Houlds- 
worth  patented  his  differential  motion 
in  January,  1826. 

Mr.  Houldsworth  at  that  time  must 
have  had  in  mind  that  two  mechan- 
isms acting  in  combination  were  nec- 
essary in  order  to  connect  the  spindle 
and  bobbin.  So  one  of  these  mechan- 
isms he  gave  us,  which  connects  the 
spindle  and  bobbin  together,  is  known 
as  the  differential  motion;  and  the 
other  mechanism  consists  of  two  uni- 
form cones,  without  concavity  and 
convexity,  the  unequal  rack  being 
used  at  that  time.  We  have  improved 


104 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


on  the  cones  by  making  a  concave 
upper  cone  end  a  convex  bottom  cone 
to  obtain  the  intermediate  speeds 
necessary  to  give  a  more  perfect  wind, 
since  after  years  of  study  it  was  found 
that  if  a  bobbin  increased  in  diameter 
from  1  inch  to  11  inches,  the  propor- 
tionate increase  was  one-ninth  part  of 
the  total;  but  if  the  bobbin  increased 
from  3i  inches  to  4  inches,  the  propor- 
tionate increase  was  only  one-thirty- 
second  part  of  the  total  diameter.  It  was 
clearly  realized  that  the  equal  increase 
of  one-eighth  of  an  inch  in  diameter 
of  the  bobbin  was  only  equal  in  addi- 
tion, and  was  very  unequal  in  propor- 
tion. It  is  this  inequality  in  proportion, 
resulting  from  equal  increments  of 
bobbin  diameter,  that  had  to  be  repro- 
duced in  the  outlines  of  the  cones  in 
order  to  obtain  correct  winding,  and 
the  result  is  a  concave  upper  cone 
and  a  convex  bottom  cone.  The  cones 
are  really  like  a  continuous  string  of 
separate  pairs  of  pulleys  connected  to- 
gether. In  finding  their  true  outline, 
each  layer  of  a  bobbin  of  roving  must 
be  considered  separately,  and  the  di- 
ameters of  the  cones  figured  for  that 
layer  alone,  which  gives  the  cones 
their  peculiar  formation — the  most  es- 
sential feature  of  the  cotton  roving 
frame. 
Another 

WONDERFUL  IMPROVEMENT 
since  the  days  when  Mr.  Greene  and 
Mr.  Houldsworth  connected  the  spindle 
and  the  bobbin  is  in  having  the  speed 
of  the  bobbin  greater  than  that  of  the 
fiyer.  When  the  contrary  was  true,  the 
bobbin  had  its  slowest  speed  when 
empty,  and  its  greatest  speed  when 
nearly  full  or  filled,  the  bottom  cone 
constantly  and  uniformly  increasing  in 
the  number  or  revolutions^  per  minute 
between  these  two  extremes.  When 
the  speed  of  the  bobbin  is  greater  than 
that  of  the  flyer,  the  bobbin  rotates 
at' its  greatest  speed  when  empty,  and 
at  its  lowest  speed  when  full.  In  this 
case,  as  the  bobbin  grows  larger  in 
diameter  and  heavier,  the  bottom  cone 
decreases  in  the  number  of  revolutions 


at  every  completion  of  the  traverse, 
making  the  consumption  of  power 
more  uniform. 

Regarding  the  ''differential  motion", 
patented  almost  100  years  ago,  it  can 
be  said  that  the  motion  was  never  im- 
proved upon,  except  in  separating  the 
driving  shaft  from  the  differential 
sleeve  in  order  to  reduce  the  friction, 
which  was  very  great  on  account  of 
the  driving-shaft  running  in  the  oppo- 
site direction  to  the  differential  sleeve. 

Now,  which  is  the  best 

SPEED-REDUCING  VALUE 
— the    old  compound    or  the  new? 
Again,  why  do  we  use  more  cone  belt- 
ing with  the  new  than  with  the  old 
motion? 

In  regard  to  the  first  question,  the 
high  speed  of  the  bottom  cone  of  the 
new  differential  motion  is  not  so 
much  obtained  from  a  higher  speed 
cone  as  from  the  use  of  a  train  of 
gears  between  the  bottom  cone  and 
the  gear  and  the  differential  sleeve, 
which  is  of  much  less  speed-reducing 
value  than  the  Houldsworth  motion. 
The  sun  gear  on  the  old  compound 
may  contain  possibly  100  to  120  teeth, 
while  its  substitute  has  between  30 
and  35  teeth — ^this  difference  repre- 
senting a  speed  of  the  bottom  cone 
in  the  new  motions  equal  to  about 
four  times  the  speed  of  the  sun  gear 
of  the  old  motion. 

Many  believe  the  new  motion  to  be 
the  best  because  the  differential  sleeve 
revolves  in  the  direction  of  the  driv- 
ing-shaft, and  its  lowest  axial  revolu- 
tion is  attained  with  the  highest  speed 
of  the  bottom  cone.  It  should  be  un- 
derstood that  a  high  speed  of  the  bot- 
tom cone  in  the  new  differential  mo- 
tion causes  a  low  axial  speed  of  the 
carrier  gears  inside  the  periphery,  and 
when  the  bottom  cone  is  stopped  its 
highest  axial  speed  is  attained;  be- 
cause the  speed  of  the  differential 
sleeve  works  against  and  checks  that 
axial  speed  of  the  carriers  inside  the 
periphery,  which  results  from  the  lat- 
ter rolling  around  the  differential 
sleeve  gear  connected  with  the  com- 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


105 


pound.  The  above  proves  this — that 
the  differential  sleeve  revolving  in  the 
direction  of  the  driving-shaft  is  of  no 
help  to  the  cone  belt;  as  on  account 
of  its  working  against  and  keeping  the 
carriers  inside  the  periphery  checked, 
the  differential  sleeve  would  revolve 
in  the  opposite  direction  to  the  driv- 
ing-shaft if  a  disconnection  was  made 
between  the  bottom  cone  and  the  dif- 
ferential sleeve. 

As  to  the  second  question — the  high 
speed  of  the  bottom  cone  or  the  train 
of  gears  of  the  new  differential  motion 
makes  the  start  of  the  bottom  cone 
much  harder  than  on  the  old  motion; 
which  causes  the  cone  belt  to 
SLIP  ON  THE  START 
of  almost  every  set,  unless  the  latter 
is  very  tight,  or  belt  dressing  is  added. 
Having  the  cone  belt  tight  will  weak- 
en it,  and  will  wear  it  out  in  only  a 
short  time.  When  a  cone  belt  breaks 
and  the  ends  are  pieced  up  again, 
some  of  the  piecings  will  be  dirty,  and 
detected  in  the  yarn  and  cloth.  This 
cone-belt  breaking  is  very  bad  for  fine 
goods  mills,  especially  where  the  yarn 
is  sold  in  skeins.  Some  makes  of 
frames  have  an  auxiliary  belt  to  pre- 
vent the  ends  from  breaking — which 
they  accomplish  as  a  rule — but  they 
are  so  neglected  in  most  mills  where 
they  are  in  use  that  they  are  little 
valued. 

The  writer  has  known  reasonably 
good  students  who  absolutely  refused 
to  admit  that  the  new  differential  mo- 
tion is  of  much  less  speed-reducing 
value  than  the  old  differential  motion, 
and  that  the  high-speed  cones  or  a 
train  of  gears  to  attain  this  high  speed 
from  the  cone  to  the  differential 
sleeve  is  the  cause  of  so  much  cone- 
belt  breaking — which  is  blamed  on  the 
quality  of  the  belting.  When  I  explain- 
ed to  them  the  merits  of  the  two  mo- 
tions, as  set  forth  in  this  article,  they 
quickly  realized  their  mistake. 

If  the  reader  is  a  mill  man  and  will 
follow  the  explanations  in  this  article, 
I  think  he  will  agree  with  the  writer 
that  we  are  ^oing  back — which  is  the 


cause  of  some  of  the  troubles  in  our 
mills  to-day. 

In  closing,  I  wish  to  emphasize  my 
first  point,  by  repeating  that  the  pre- 
liminary mixing  of  the  cotton  is  ab- 
solutely essential,  and  any  care  be- 
stowed on  this  particular  will  be  many 
times  repaid  in  the  card  and  spinning 
room.  No.  72. 

SPINNING  ROOM  SUPER- 
VISION. 


I  would  like  to  say  a  few  worvls  on 
frame  ring  spinning — how  to  have  a 
spinning  room  managed  to  get  the 
best  results  at  smallest  cost.  I  think 
the  overseer  is  held  responsible  for 
everything  under  his  charge.  It  seemr! 
to  me  the  overseer  should  train  all  his 
help,  that  their  work  is  as  important 
to  the  firm  as  his  own.  He  should 
insist  that  the  second-hand  and  sec- 
tion-hand keep  every  machine  and  all 
the  spindles  in  the 

BEST   RUNNING  CONDITION. 

If  the  spinner  has  to  piece  the  same 
end  up  more  than  two  or  three  times 
during  a  doff,  the  second-hand  should 
attend  to  it  at  once.  If  the  roving  is 
as  good  as  can  be  expected,  the  roller 
may  be  bad,  the  spindle  may  be  bent 
or  out  of  plumb,  or  the  ring  may  be  off 
centre;  sometimes  the  spinning  bobbin 
is  of  a  smaller  diameter,  the  band 
being  covered  with  waste  making  it 
larger  in  diameter,  thus  causing  bad 
work.  A  small  roller  lap  on  bottom, 
middle  or  back  roll,  or  top,  middle  oi 
back  roll  will  cause  ends  to  keep  break- 
ing down.  Those  little  things  need 
looking  after. 

UNEVEN  YARN 
will  be  caused  by  neglect  to  oil  the 
ends  of  top  rolls  and  the  middle  bear- 
ings of  the  roll — or  if  the  top  roller 
ends  get  clogged  with  waste  in  their 
bearings,  thus  causing  the  roller  to 
turn  hard,  sometimes  almost  stopping, 


106 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


the  same  result  will  follow.  Too  long 
a  draft  and  too  high  speed  will  cause 
work  to  run  bad  and  produce  weak 
yarn.  If  the  train  of  draft  gears  is  not 
properly  geared,  this  will  cause  weak 
yarn.  The  train  of  draft  gears  should 
be  set  to  mesh  so  that  the  teeth  should 
just  clear  the  bottom.  If  there  is  too 
much  play  from  the  gears  not  being 
set  to  mesh  deep  enough  or  the  train 
of  draft  gears  gets  worn  thin,  thus 
causing  too  much  back  lashing,  the 
middle  and  back  rolls  will  tremble,  and 
you  will  have  weak  yarn.  If  the  gears 
are  set  to  mesh  too  deeply,  so  that 
they  grind,  the  top  rolls  will  jump  a 
little,  thus  causing  thick  and  thin 
places  in  the  yarn.  Usually  this  breaks 
some  teeth  out  of  the  gears  and  causes 
the  frame  to  be  stopped,  with  conse- 
quent loss  of  production,  waste,  cost  of 
new  gears,  etc. 

Spinning  frames  should  be  scoured 
twice  a  year,  and  at  scouring  times  all 
the  covers  on  the  gears  should  be  re- 
moved and  the  gearing  given  a 

THOROUGH  CLEANING. 

All  the  oil  holes  should  be  thoroughly 
cleaned  out  and  worn  studs  or  gears 
replaced  with  new  ones.  By  so  doing, 
the  running  parts  will  be  kept  in  good 
condition,  with  resultant  good  work  and 
large  production.  When  scouring,  have 
a  few  narrow  strips  of  wood  long 
enough  to  pass  under  the  steel  rolls 
and  fasten  with  a  bolt  to  the  roller 
beam  so  as  to  hold  them  in  position  at 
one  end.  The  front  must  be  long 
enough  to  hold  the  three  steel  rollers. 
Plave  notches  in  the  strips  for  the  rolls 
to  rest  in,  then  place  the  latter  in  po- 
sition and  wipe  them  off  with  waste; 
then  clean  the  flutes  lengthwise  with 
card  clothing  wire  to  get  all  of  the  dirt 
out.  A  stiff  bristle  brush  is  a  very 
good  thing  to  use,  as  it  does  not 
scratch  the  flutes. 

Spinning  frames 

SHOULD  BE  LEVELED 
when  they  show  any  signs  of  being 
out  of  order.   The  longer  they  remain 
running  out  of  level,  the  greater  waste 


of  oil  and  loss  in  production,  with  hot- 
ter bearings  and  very  tight  belts.  All 
this  causes  a  loss  to  the  firm  arising 
through  neglect. 

After  a  spinning  frame  has  been  lev- 
eled the  spindles  should  be  plumed, 
the  ring  rail  leveled  and  the  lifting 
rods  set  to  work  freely.  Don't  have 
any  more  weight  on  the  cross-shaft 
levers  than  is  required  to  lift  the 
ring-rail  smoothly.  If  the  ring-rail 
rises  and  lowers  with  jumps,  it  usually 
causes  the  ends  to  keep  breaking  down 
and  makes  a  rough-looking  yarn. 

DIRECTIONS   FOR  ADJUSTING. 

The  top  covered  rolls  should  be  set 
a  little  to  the  front  of  centre  of  bottom 
steel  roll.  The  spread  of  the  front  and 
middle  rolls  should  be  set  from  1-16 
to  8-16  from  centre  to  centre  for  mid- 
dling cotton,  then  the  average  length 
of  staple  of  the  cotton  used.  After  the 
bottom  steel  rods  are  properly  set  for 
the  yarn  that  is  required  to  be  spun 
from  a  certain  length  of  cotton  staple, 
take  three  leather-covered  top  rolls  of 
the  same  diameter,  place  them  in  their 
position  in  cap  bars;  then  take  a  small 
steel  square — put  it  over  the  top  rolls, 
and  letting  one  edge  of  the  square  hang 
down  over  the  front  of  top  and  bot- 
tom roll  at  one  end  of  the  base  near 
the  cap  bar;  then  draw  the  end  of  the 
top  front  roller  out  until  the  front 
is  flush  with  the  front  of  bottom  steel 
roll.  Do  the  other  end  of  the  base  of 
same  front  top  roll  in  the  same  man- 
ner. Then  turn  the  same  three  rolls 
over  into  the  next  set  of  cap  bars; 
when  in  position  set  them  the  same 
way  and  repeat  until  all  the  top  front 
rolls  are  set  from  one  end  of  the 
frame  to  the  other  end.  This  will 
bring  all  of  the  front  top  rolls  a  little 
to  the  front  of  the  centre  of  bottom 
steel  roll;  then  set  the  middle  and  back 
rolls  with  gauges.  In  some  spinning 
frames,  the  middle  and  back  top  roll 
cap-bars  are  so  arranged  that  they  will 
bring  the  rolls  a  little  to  the  front, 
and  cannot  be  altered,  but  the  front 
top  rolls  can  be  moved  a  little  to  the 
front  as  desired,    SJiQuld  the  middle 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


107 


top  roll  cap  bars  be  movable,  use  the 
same  three  rolls  to  gauge  with.  Witn 
the  front  roll  set  to  the  front  of  cen- 
tre of  bottom  steel  roll,  set  the  top, 
middle  and  back  the  same  distance  as 
bottom  steel  roll  from  centre  to  cen- 
tre. This  will  bring  all  the  top  rolls  a 
little  to  the  front,  and  you  will  havt? 
a  fine  line  from  one  end  of  the  frame 
and 

WILL  WORK  FREELY. 

If  you  put  all  the  top  rolls  in  a  frame 
and  set  them  all  through,  then  draw 
a  fine  line  from  one  end  of  the  frame 
to  the  other  over  the  centre  of  one 
lino  of  rolls,  having  me  lino  square 
over  the  centre  of  each  end  roller.  At 
each  end  of  the  frame,  you  will  find 
them  to  be  zig-zag,  because  top-cov- 
ered rolls  vary  considerably  in  diam- 
eter.  This  is  very  bad  for  the  work. 

Never  use  new  rings  on  a  ring  rail 
with  old  rings  on  it.  This  usually 
gives  trouble.  New  rings  require  a 
different  size  traveler;  this  usually 
makes  a  different  size  bobbin.  A  very 
good  plan  is  to  get  rings  enough  for  a 
few  frames,  then  remove  all  the  rings 
of  the  ring  rail  for  one  frame  on  filling 
yarns,  if  you  have  it,  and  replace  them 
with  new  ones.  Then  use  the  old  rings 
to  repair  the  other  frames  that  have 
been  in  use  about  the  same  time.  Re- 
peat until  they  are  all  in  good  condi- 
tion and  you  will  receive  good  results. 

Cleaning  is  a  very  important  part 
of  spinning.  The  top  of  the  creels 
should  have  the  roving  and  empty  bob- 
bins all  removed  once  a  week  (usually 
after  the  ceiling  and  shafting  have 
been  brushed  down),  and  the  top  of  the 
creels  wiped  off.    This  will 

PREVENT  OILY  SPOTS 
from  getting  on  the  roving — or  any 
dirt,  lint,  etc.,  that  always  collects  on 
the  top  of  creels.  The  underneath 
parts  of  the  creel-board  where  the 
screwers  rest  should  be  rolled  out  twice 
a  week.  The  tread-board  should  be 
wiped  off  twice  a  day  with  waste — be- 
fore noon,  and  about  5  o'clock  at  night 
— and  wiped  off  with  a  wiper  every 


hour  or  two,  especially  for  coarse  work 
where  middling  cotton  is  used.  Finer 
yarn  requires  a  better  grade  of  cotton, 
as  the  frame  does  not  get  so  dirty  and 
requires  less  cleaning.  Separators, 
rods,  etc.,  require  cleaning  or  brushing 
off  every  day.  Ring  rails  should  be 
cleaned  every  day  with  a  small  brush 
— this  prevents  the  fly  or  lint  from 
blowing  into  the  yarn  when  stopping 
and  starting  a  frame. 

BANDING  FOR  SPINDLES 
should  be  kept  the  same  diameter  and 
the  spindle  whorl  kept  clean.  A  good 
band-boy  is  a  very  important  adjunct 
tov/ards  keeping  a  spinning  room 
looking  well.  When  there  are  spindles 
standing  idle,  it  is  usually  the  fault 
of  a  slack  band-boy  and  section-hand. 
This  means  a  loss  to  the  firm.  Slack 
bands  usually  make  soft  bobbins — 
which  is  waste.  A  band  that  is  too 
tight  puts  more  twist  in  the  yarn. 
When  twisted  together  with  some  ot 
the  other  yarn,  it  is  cork-screwed  yarn. 
Uneven  weight  on  the  rolls  usually 
causes  yarn  to  be  heavy  and  light  and 
poor  oiling  produces  the  same  uneven 
result.  Some  rolls  will  turn  hard 
while  the  others  are  turning  right  and 
the  hard  turning  rolls  will  make  the 
bobbin  heavy,  harsh  and  weak. 
Change  your  travelers  often,  do  not 
leave  them  on  until  worn  out.  This 
helps  to  spoil  the  rings. 

CREELING  AND  DOFFING. 
Creeling  spinners  should  be  trained 
not  to  allow  the  roving  to  run  off  the 
bobbin  and  pass  through  the  rolls,  and 
when  the  spinner  or  creeler  replaces 
the  empty  bobbin  with  a  full  one,  he 
should  not  make  a  long  piecing  or 
wet  the  piecing.  This  causes  bad  work, 
and  makes  waste.  The  doffer  should 
be  trained  to  work  carefully  and  quick- 
ly so  as  not  to  break  off  ends  when 
doffing.  Three  or  four  ends  are  plenty 
to  a  frame  of  256  spindles.  I  have  had 
a,  dolfer  that  would  not  average  three 
ends  to  a  frame  the  day  out.  The  more 
ends  the  doffer  breaks  down,  the  more 
^'V'aste  there  will  be. 


108 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


Top  leather-covered  rolls  should  be 
put  in  the  frame  so  that  the  lap  on 
the  leather  will  not  turn  up  in  work- 
ing; the  lap  should  follow  the  outside. 
Any  cotton  that  collects  on  the  bosses 
of  the  rolls  should  be  removed  imme- 
diately in  order  to  prevent  the  rolls 
becoming  injured,  making  cut  and 
lumpy  yarn.  The  roving  trumpets 
should  be  set  so  that  at  the  centre  of 
their  traverse  they  will  be  at  the  cen- 
tre of  the  boss  of  the  top  roll,  and 
should  not  be  allowed  to  become  loose 
or  tip  over.  The  trumpets'  roving  holes 
should  be  kept  clean;  otherwise  cotton 
and  dirt  gather  there,  causing  addi- 
tional strain  and  draft  on  the  roving 
before  it  enters  the  rolls,  thus  making 
rough  and  fuzzy  yarn. 

REGARDING  SADDLES. 

When  the  saddles  are  set  on  the  top 
rolls  the  wrong  way,  it  results  in  im- 
properly distributing  the  weight  on  the 
rolls.  When  the  saddles  are  worn,  they 
have  too  much  bearing  surface  on  the 
rolls  and  retard  their  movement  to 
some  extent,  causing  an  irregularly 
drawn  yarn  to  be  made.  The  weight 
hooks  should  all  be  set  in  the  same 
notch  from  the  end  of  each  weight 
lever,  and  every  roller  should  have  the 
same  number  of  pound  weight  attach- 
ed to  each  weight  lever  hook. 

Should  the  top  front  roll  bearing  be- 
come dry  for  the  want  of  oiling,  its 
speed  is  reduced.  This  will  produce 
yarn  coarser  than  ought  to  be  from 
one  to  four  numbers.  This  also  causes 
rolls  to  make  yarn  rough,  lumpy,  fuz- 
zy and  uneven.  The  guide  wires 
should  deliver  exactly  over  the  tops 
of  the  spindles.  Should  they  become 
worn  by  the  thread  of  yarn  running 
through  them, '  they  will  chafe  the 
yarn,  and  should  be  replaced  with  new 
wires. 

GUIDE  WIRES. 
If  the  guide  wires  are  not  centred, 
they  cause  the  yarn  to  chafe  on  one 
side  of  the  bobbin,  thereby  causing 
the  ends  of  yarn  to  keep  breaking; 
causing  extra  work  for  the  spinner, 
loss  of  production  and  extra  waste. 


Travelers  should  not  be  allowed  to 
remain  running  until  they  are  worn 
so  that  they  will  keep  flying  off.  When 
travelers  get  in  such  condition,  they 
help  to  spoil  the  rings,  and  make  the 
spinning  go  bad.  No.  73. 


FILLING  ROOM. 


It  has  often  struck  me  that  a  small 
but  useful  part  in  the  equipment  of  a 
weaving  mill,  whether  cotton  or  wool- 
en, is  very  often  neglected.  This  is  a 
filling  room,  which,  as  its  name  im- 
plies, is  a  room  wherein  all  yarn  when 
ready  for  the  weave  room  is  kept.  The 
door  to  this  room  should  be  kept 
closed,  and  no  one  allowed  in  but  the 
person  in  charge.  The  weavers,  when 
requiring  filling,  present  their  loom 
tickets  at  the  window,  and  the  proper 
yarn  is  served  out  to  them.  Now  this 
may  not  appear  to  be  as  important  as 
it  really  is,  especially  in  a  mill  running 
a  variety  of  yarns,  but  a  little  consid- 
eration will  show  us  that  the  advan- 
tages are  more  numerous  than  they 
appear  to  be  on  the  surface. 
MOST  IMPORTANT  ADVANTAGE. 

The  first  and  most  important  ad- 
vantage is  the  reduction  to  a  mini- 
mum ot  mixed  filling  in  the  piece; 
should  this  take  place  in  goods  of  a 
medium  or  high-grade  quality,  it 
means  turning  them  into  seconds, 
with  a  corresponding  loss  in  value. 
Yarns  that  are  near  each  other  in 
number,  or  even  the  same  number,  de- 
livered by  two  different  spinners,  may 
appear  to  be  alike,  when  seen  in  the 
chain  or  on  the  quills,  yet  when  woven 
in  the  piece,  a  difference  is  directly 
discernible.  Intelligent  and  well- 
trained  help  do  not  often  make 
mistakes  of  this  kind,  still  it  is  too 
much  to  expect  them  to  be  always  on 
the  alert,  and  the  most  careful  of 
weavers  are  liable  to  slip  up  when 
the  filling  is  left  where  they  have  to 
get  it  for  themselves.  A  board  taken 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


109 


from  the  wrong  pile  is  easy,  and  the 
mischief  is  done. 

Secondly,  the  superintendent  is  bet- 
ter able  to  regulate  his  filling  than 
before;  he  need  never  be  afraid  of 
running 

TWO  DIFFERENT  LOTS 
at  the  same  time,  but  can  space  out 
his  orders  as  he  wants  them — so  many 
orders  or  pieces  on  No.  1  lot,  and  so 
many  on  No.  2  lot;  or,  if  he  has  two 
spinners,  both  delivering  the  same 
count  of  yarn,  he  can  keep  certain 
orders  on  one  man's  yarn,  and  certain 
other  orders  on  the  other  man's  yarn, 
and  have  some  confidence  that  the 
pieces  will  be  woven  as  called  for. 
This  enables  him  to  tell  in  a  moment, 
whose,  or  what  yarn,  is  in  any  par- 
ticular piece  that  may  be  in  question; 
whereas,  in  the  old  way,  the  piece 
may  have  been  woven  with  either  one 
or  the  other,  and  it  would  be  almost 
an  impossibility  to  say  definitely  what 
yarn  was  in  the  cloth.  Again,  it  often 
happens  that  for  some  reason  or  oth- 
er it  becomes  necessary  to 

CHANGE  OVER 
a  good  many  looms  to  a  different  fill- 
ing; this  can  be  done  much  easier 
through  the  medium  of  a  filling  room 
than  by  having  to  go  to  each  individual 
weaver,  and  tell  him,  personally,  to 
change  his  or  her  filling  at  the  end 
of  the  cut  then  weaving,  relying  upon 
their  memory  to  do  so.  A  note  to  the 
person  in  charge  of  the  filling  room, 
instructing  him  to  change  over  certain 
looms,  taking  a  note  of  the  number  of 
the  cut  where  the  change  was  made, 
is  all  that  is  needed. 

Thirdly,  a  filling  room  would  almost 
eliminate  the 

TENDENCY  TO  WASTE 
on  the  part  of  the  weavers.  If  a  cop 
or  quill  breaks  a  little  too  often,  or 
runs  a  little  too  badly  to  please  the 
weaver,  he  puts  it  among  his  emp- 
ties and  it  goes  into  the  waste  or  is 
put  on  a  fresh  board,  and  some  other 
weaver  has  the  task  of  weaving  up 
what  the  first  one  turned  down.  The 


attendant  of  the  filling  room  could 
see  by  a  glance  at  the  board  the  weav- 
er brings  back,  when  needing  a  fresh 
supply,  whether  he  has  woven  off  all 
his  quills  or  not,  and  unless  they  real- 
ly are  too  bad  he  can  insist  on  the 
same  weaver  using  them  up. 

There  is  an  old  saying,  to  the  ef- 
fect that  "too  many  cooks  spoil  the 
broth",  which  is  very  applicable  in  this 
case,  the  responsibility  of  having  the 
right  filling  woven  being  on  one,  two 
or  three  hundred  persons  of  different 
characters  and  temperaments,  instead 
of 

ON  ONE  PERSON  ONLY, 

devoting  the  greater  part  of  his  time 
to  this  duty.  The  expense  would  not 
be  so  great  a  consideration  when  bal- 
anced against  the  advantages  men- 
tioned, as  a  bright  intelligent  youth 
would  be  perfectly  able  to  keep  a 
room  of  this  kind  in  good  shape;  or 
if  the  mill  was  not  large  enough  to 
warrant  a  separate  room  and  attend- 
ant, then  a  space  could  be  partitioned 
off  and  the  quilling  overseer  put  in 
charge  of  it,  so  long  as  the  idea  of 
keeping  the  filling  together  in  the  one 
place,  and  making  one  person  respon- 
sible for  the  yarn  woven  was  adhered 
to. 

Then  again,  a  stock  of  the  yarn  on 
hand  could  be  taken  quicker  and  more 
easily,  as  all  the  yarn  not  actually  in 
process — weaving,  winding  or  quilling 
— would  be  in  the  one  room,  instead  of 
some  being  in  the  weave  room,  wind- 
ing room,  and  other  places — as  is  often 
the  case.  No.  74. 

CONCERNING  TRAVELER. 


I  find  by  being  overseer  of  spinning 
for  several  years  that  all  defects  are 
not  in  the  machinery.  For  instance, 
you  will  find  a  superintendent  that 
wants  to  run  his  job  and  the  spinners' 
also.  This  to  my  mind  is  one  of  the 
greatest  defects  ever  met  with  in  a 
spinning  room  or  elsewhere  in  the 
mill.  I  have  known  of  superintendents 


110 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


who  did  not  want  the  spinner  to 
change  his  travelers  except  when 
there  was  a  change  in  the  yarn  being 
spun.  This  is  one  of  the  greatest  de- 
fects in  cotton  spinning  in  a  mill  with 
40,000  spindles  and  with  40,000  bad 
travelers.  The  help  cannot  keep  theij 
work  up,  and  are  consequently  under 
a  continual  strain,  making  a  great 
amount  of  waste  for  the  company 
and  a  consequent  loss.  Where  an  over- 
seer can  have  his  own  way  in  matters 
of  routine,  and  where  he  is  in  close 
touch  with  his  work  continually,  he 
is  the  best  judge  of  individual  spin- 
ning room  methods,  and  better  results 
can  be  secured  than  where  a  superin- 
tendent tries  to  personally  run  all  de- 
partments. 

An  overseer  cannot  get  re- 
sults with  his  help  disorganized  all 
the  time.  I  have  in  the  past  met  su- 
perintendents whose  greatest  ideas  of 
economy  was  in  the  saving  of  trav- 
elers. Most  any  boy  or  girl  in  the 
spinning  room  can  remedy  these  small 
defects,  but  they  cannot  prevent  dis- 
organization under  poor  management. 
I  have  always  found  the  greatest  de- 
fects in  the  spinning  room  to  be  due 
to  the  interference  on  small  matters 
by  the  management.  No.  75. 


A  NEEDED  IMPROVEMENT. 


In  considering  defects  in  existing 
processes  of  woolen  manufacturing,  it 
would  seem  that  none  could  be  more 
serious  than  such  as  appear  in  the 
initial  process  of  the  work,  causing 
trouble  in  every  succeeding  depart- 
ment, and  finally,  imperfect  goods.  We 
wish  to  call  attention  to  such  a  de- 
fect, noting  a  few  of  the  difficulties 
which  arise  from  it,  and  suggesting, 
if  possible,  a  means  by  which  it  may 
be  remedied  or  overcome. 

The  defect  to  which  we  refer  may 
be  found  in  every  mill,  and  in  many 
instances  it  has  been  the  source  of 
much  trouble,  and  the  most  difficult  to 


overcome  of  any  within  the  whole 
range  of  the  work;  especially  where 
medium  and  low-grade  goods  are  made. 
It  consists  in  the  separation  of  the 
stock  after  it  has  left  the  picker,  and 
is  being  deposited  in  the  blow-room, 
preparatory  to  the  carding  process. 
A  COMMON  DIFFICULTY. 
Every  carder  who  has  had  to  do 
with  a  combination  of  long  and  short 
stock  has  met  the  difficulty,  and  every 
succeeding  department,  from  the  spin- 
ning to  the  finishing,  has  had  to  con- 
tend with  the  evil  results  that  are 
sure  to  follow;  and  many  have  been 
the  vain  efforts  to  find  a  suitable 
remedy. 

Everyone  who  has  had  experience  In 
the  mixing  of  wool  stock,  preparatory 
to  the  carding  process,  knows  the 
tendency  of  the  longer  and  lighter  por 
tions,  in  coming  from  the  picker,  to 
find  lodgment  in  the  extreme  parts 
and  upon  the  walls  of  the  blow-room, 
while  that  which  is  shorter  and  heav 
ier,  falls  nearer  the  mouth  or  outlet 
of  the  picker,  thereby  undoing  in  part 
the  work  the  machir.e  is  supposed 
to  accomplish,  namely,  the  unform 
blending  of  the  different  kinds  of 
stock  in  use. 

The  whole  trouble  arises  from  the 
volume  of  air  produced  by  the  high 
speed  of  the  picker,  by  which  the  light 
stock  is  carried  farther  than  the  heavy; 
and  though  the  utmost  care  may  be 
exercised  in  the  subsequent  laying 
down  of  these  extremes  of  stock,  pre- 
paratory to  running  through  the  ma- 
chine again,  the  result  is  the  same  and 
equally  as  bad. 

When  the  stock  is  taken  to  the 
cards,  some  portions  of  the  lot  must 
contain  an  undue  proportion  of  the 
shorter  and  poorer  fibres,  while  other 
portions  are  comparatively  better: 
and  the  result  cannot  be  otherwise 
than  irregular  and  imperfect  work, 
carrying  with  it  a  multitude  of  evils 
all  the  v/ay  to  the  packing  room, 
among  which  may  be  mentioned  bad 
work  in  the  carding,  uneven,  twitty 
and  tender  yarn — light  and  heavy  in 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


Ill 


spots,  soft  bobbins  and  bad  work  for 
the  weaver,  and  cockled,  rowey  and 
tender  cloth  in  the  finishing. 

One  great  difficulty  in  contending 
with  these  evils  is  that  they  often  come 
unexpectedly,  and  frequently  come  and 
go  before  their  cause  can  be  deter- 
mined, just  as  we  might  expect  the 
irregular  mixture  would  pass  into  the 
card.  The  work  may  be  running  all 
right,  apparently,  when  all  at  once  the 
self-feed  gets  a  bunch  of  one  of  the 
extremes  of  stock,  and  the  result  is 
soon  evident  at  the  finisher;  but  the 
cause  is  not  so  easily  distinguished. 
Sometimes  the  result  is  not  notice- 
able at  the  finisher,  but  it  will  most 
likely  show  itself  at  some  other  point 
— and  always  too  late  to  correct. 
LAYING  THE  BLAME. 

Maybe  the  carder  finds  his  roping 
is  coming  too  heavy,  and  before  he 
has  time  to  correct  it,  it  corrects  it- 
self— or  possibly  jumps  to  the  other 
extreme.  The  spinner  finds  light  and 
heavy  yarn  in  the  same  set,  and  blames 
the  carder  tor  what  he  was  pow- 
erless to  avoid.  The  cloth  shows  light 
and  heavy  places  and  other  defects 
at  the  weaver's  perch,  which  he  is 
unable  to  account  for;  and  the  finish- 
er has  cockles,  shaded  and  tender 
goods,  as  well  as  other  imperfections 
growing  out  of  the  difliculty. 

We  do  not  contend  that  the  imper- 
fections referred  to  are  always  caused 
by  the  defect  in  question;  but  we  are 
sure  that  where  the  defect  exists  it 
tends  to  produce  them.  Carelessness  in 
mixing  may  intensify  the  trouble,  but 
the  utmost  care  is  not  a  guarantee 
against  it,  and  it  is  an  ever  recurring 
evil  where  medium  and  low-grade 
goods  are  made,  and  not  infrequently 
its  origin  is  not  discovered  or  suspect- 
ed. Various  remedies  have  been  de- 
vised, none  of  which  ever  aimed  to 
do  away  with  or  subdue  the  force  of 
the  air  coming  from  the  picker,  which 
is  the  real  cause.  The  writer  has  seen 
an  arrangement  consisting  of  a  hang- 
ing wind-break,  made  of  wood,  adjust- 
ed so  as  to  turn  the  stock  downward 


to  the  floor,  instead  of  allowing  it  to 
be  carried  up  and  around  the  room. 
But  this  did  not  wholly  overcome  the 
trouble. 

A  PARTIAL  REMEDY. 

Another  partial  remedy  is  to  have 
a  small  blow-room,  with  a  pipe  ar- 
ranged to  convey  the  stock  from  the 
picker  upward  and  then  downward  in- 
to the  centre  of  the  room.  By  this 
means  all  the  stock  is  bound  to  be  de- 
posited in  one  place;  and  the  smaller 
the  room  the  less  the  opportunity  the 
light  stock  has  to  gei  away  from  the 
heavy;  and  it  is  less  inclined  to  do 
so  than  where  it  is  blown  upward 
into  a  large  space. 

The  writer  was  once  troubled  with 
rowey  cloth,  caused  from  this  diffi- 
culty. The  cloth  was  of  cotton  warp 
and  a  distinctly  filling  face — a  five-har- 
ness Y/eave;  so  that  the  least  varia- 
tion was  Dound  to  show.  After  trying 
other  remedies  without  success,  we 
put  three  men  into  the  blow-room-  - 
one  to  keep  the  stock  from  accumulat- 
ing on  the  walls,  and  the  other  two  to 
sheet  it  up  as  it  came  from  the  picker; 
and  by  this  means  we  got  compara- 
tively good  results.  This  served  to 
strengthen  the  idea  already  entertain- 
ed, that  could  the  stock  be  kept  as 
thoroughly  blended  as  when  it  left  the 
picker,  the  difficulty  would  be  over- 
come. 

To  accomplish  this,  tho  effect  of 
the  wind  must  be  overcOine,  which 
would  seem  to  necessitate  some  sort 
of  arrangement  to  secure  and  hold 
the  stock  as  it  comes  froi^  the  ma- 
chine, and  carry  it  away  from  the  air 
current  to  be  doffed;  or  better  still, 
improve  upon  the  machine  to  reduce 
the  force  of  the  air  that  the  ordinary 
picker  generates. 

This  idea  is  partly  carried  out  In 
the  construction  of  the  modern  ma- 
chine, known  as  the  Fearnaught,  or 

SPUR-TOOTHED  PICKER, 
which  is  well  known  as  a  most  excel- 
lent opener  and  blender  of  stock.  The 
volume  of  air  produced  by  the  opera 


112 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


tion  of  this  machine  is  so  small,  that 
the  makers  have  been  obliged  to  add 
what  they  term  a  *'doffer  fan"  at  the 
outlet,  to  force  the  stock  from  the 
machine. 

Now,  in  place  of  this  fan,  some  sort 
of  doffer  could  be  substituted,  from 
which  the  stock  could  be  delivered 
to  a  suitable  apron,  which  in  turn 
could  convey  it  to  the  place  desired. 

With  the  present  cons.truction  of  the 
Fearnaught  machine  with  the  fan 
service,  the  same  difficulty  is  experi- 
enced as  with  the  old  style  picker; 
but  by  the  removal  of  the  fan,  ana 
a  carrying  further  of  the  carding  ma 
chine  idea  already  embodied  in  its 
construction,  it  seems  as  though  sue 
cess  might  be  attained,  a  multitude 
of  evils  avoided  and  much  more  per- 
fect work  secured  in  every  depart- 
ment of  the  mill. 

Our  suggestion  is  that  some  means 
be  adopted  by  which  the  stock  may 
be  delivered  from  the  picker,  on  an 
apron  or  otherwise,  free  from  the  evil 
effects  of  the  air  current  that  accom- 
pany the  operation  of  the  present 
machines.  We  are  not  prepared  to  say 
just  now  how  it  shall  be  done;  but 
refer  to  the  Fearnaught  machine,  be- 
cause it  demonstrates  that  the  force 
of  air  is  not  necessary  to  the  accom- 
plishment of  the  work;  and  the  re- 
sult desired  seems  to  be  half  accom- 
plished in  its  construction,  leaving 
out  the  "fan  doffer."  No.  76. 


REMEDYING  FINISHING 

ROOM  DEFECTS. 


There  is  no  department  of  the  wool- 
en mill  that  encounters  more  defects 
than  the  finishing.  It  not  only  has  to 
guard  against  difficulties  -of  its  own, 
but  a  goodly  share  of  its  work  con- 
sists in  striving  to  correct  and  over- 
come defects  that  have  had  their  ori- 
gin in  the  other  departments.  It  is  a 
veritable  dumping-ground  for  many  of 
the  evils  that  accumulate  from  the 


scouring  of  the  stock  to  the  weaver's 
perch;  so  that  it  will  be  impossible 
to  attempt  to  consider  them  all.  We 
will,  however,  call  attention  to  a  few 
that  are  most  likely  to  give  the  fin- 
isher trouble. 

The  first  to  which  we  would  call 
attention  is  that  of 

DIRTY  GOODS. 
To  the  uninitiated,  it  might  seem 
that  the  fault  for  this  defect  must 
be  in  the  scouring;  but  this  is  not 
always  the  case.  It  is  well  to  bear  in 
mind  that  the  cleansing  of  the  cloth 
really  begins  in  the  fulling  mills,  and 
when  the  fulling  soap  properly  per- 
forms its  functions,  the  grease  and 
dirt  are  thoroughly  loosened  up,  and 
are  held  in  suspense  by  the  soap,  so 
that  the  scouring  only  serves  to. com- 
plete the  work  already  begun.  But  if 
the  fulling  soap  fails  to  do  its  part, 
the  heat  of  the  fulling  tends  to  set  the 
grease  and  dirt,  so  that  the  scouring 
becomes  more  difficult.  In  such  a  case, 
the  fulling  soap  should  be  looked  af- 
ter to  see  that  it  properly  performs 
the  service  required  of  it.  It  may  fail 
to  do  its  work  on  account  of  a  lack  of 
proper  alkaline  strength,  or  for  the 
want  of  sufficient  body,  either  of 
which  should  be  corrected. 

Sometimes  trouble  arises  from  in- 
sufficient boiling  in  preparing  the 
soap;  and  it  may  appear  all  right,  but 
"goes  to  pieces",  so  to  speak,  in  the 
fulling  mill,  running  watery  and  be- 
coming ineffective  before  the  work  is 
finished.  Any  attempt  to  have  the 
scouring  make  up  for  a  deficiency  in 
the  quality  of  the  fulling  soap  is  get- 
ting "the  cart  before  the  horse",  and 
should  be  avoided,  as  it  tends  to  dirty 
goods  and  dull  colors. 

When  the  cloth  goes  to  the  washer, 
all  the  foreign  matter  it  contains 
should  be  well  combined  with  the 
soap,  and  usually  a  greater  part  of  it 
should  be  at  once  rinsed  off  with 
warm  water;  and  when  this  has  been 
done,  sufficient  scouring  soap  should 
be  applied  to  create  a  good  lather. 
After  running  about  twenty  minutes, 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS.  |w 


113 


it  should  be  rinsed  off  until  all  the 
soapy  appearance  disappears;  then 
complete  the  rinsing  with  cold  wa- 
ter. If  the  goods  are  very  hard  to 
clean,  a  second  soaping,  following  the 
rinsing  with  warm  water,  may  be 
necessary;  which  should  be  deter- 
mined by  the  good  judgment  of  the 
finisher. 

There  is  no  safe  rule  for  preparing 
either  the  fulling  or  the  scouring 
soap.  It  depends  very  largely  upon 
the  condition  and  quality  of  the 
goods,  the  finish  desired  and  the 
kind  of  oil  used  on  the  stock  in  the 
carding;  and  it  calls  for  the  careful 
study  and  good  judgment  of  the  fin- 
isher in  charge. 

Following  the  proper  adjustment  of 
the  soap,  care  should  be  taken  to  give 
suflft'Cient  time  in  the  soap  and  rinsing 
off  to  secure  the  desired  results. 

Among  the  defects  with  which  the 
finisher  has  to  contend,  it  is  doubtful 
if  any  are  more  serious  or  give  more 
trouble  than 

COCKLED  GOODS. 
When  there  appear,  the  first  thing  for 
the  finisher  to  do  is  to  determine  the 
cause,  and  whether  it  falls  to  him  to 
correct  them.  Since  they  may  be  caus- 
ed almost  anywhere  from  the  picker 
to  the  loom,  as  well  as  in  the  finish- 
ing-room, it  is  not  always  an  easy 
matter  to  decide  who  may  be  respon- 
sible. 

Among  the  things  that  may  cause 
them  may  be  mentioned  uneven  mix- 
ing of  the  stock;  variation  in  the  size 
or  twist  of  the  yarn;  light  and  heavy 
places  in  the  weaving;  careless  soap- 
ing and  defective  or  insufficient 
amount  of  soap  in  the  fulling  process. 
Though  the  cockles  develop  in  the 
fulling,  ais  already  intimated,  the  real 
cause  may  exist  in  the  cloth  before 
it  comes  tO'  the  finishing-room,  in 
which  case  the  finisher  cannot  make 
the  correction;  but  if  it  is  found  that 
the  fault  is  in  the  finishing-room,  then 
it  is  up  to  him  to  determine  the  cause 
and  apply  the  remedy. 

If  the  cause  be  in  the  weaving  or 


uneven  filling,  the  cockles  will  show 
in  a  distinct  line  or  bar  across  the 
cloth,  corresponding  with  the  irreg- 
ularity in  the  yarn  or  cloth,  but  if 
they  are  due  to  a  fault  in  the  finish- 
ing, there  will  be  a  lack  of  any  regu- 
larity in  their  appearance.  The  ex- 
perienced finisher  will  be  able  to  de- 
termine if  he  is  responsible  for  them. 
If  the  fulling  soap  is  of  insuflacient 
strength,  it  will  fail  to  thoroughly  cut 
or  isaponify  the  grease  contained  in 
the  cloth,  and  thus  cause  the  trouble. 
The  alkaline  strength  of  the  soap  be- 
comes exhausted  before  all  the  grease 
is  overcome,  and  wherever  it  fails  to 
cut  the  grease  the  fulling  is  imper- 
fect, and  irregular  fulling  results.  The 
remedy  is  to  strengthen  the  soap  so 
that  there  will  be  a  thorough  saponi- 
fication of  all  the  grease  the  cloth 
contains. 

The  trouble  may  also  arise  from  a 
failure  to  apply  the  soap  evenly,  es- 
pecially if  the  cloth  is  quick  to  full. 
If  certain  portions  become  sufficiently 
wet,  while  other  portions  are  deficient 
in  moisture,  the  fulling  will  begin  in 
these  places  first;  and  though  the 
moisture  may  be  afterward  equalized, 
an  irregularity  is  produced  that  the 
after-fulling  may  not  fully  correct. 
The  same  result  may  follow  where 
an  insufiicient  quantity  of  soap  is 
used,  as  the  soaping  should  be  thor- 
ough as  well  as  uniform. 

The  remedy  is  to  apply  the  soap 
slowly,  so  that  it  may  be  evenly  dis- 
tributed, and  be  sure  that  the  quan- 
tity is  sufficient  to  thoroughly  and 
properly  accomplish  the  work.  Better 
still — use  a  soaping  machine,  which 
will  insure  good  results,  both  as  to 
quantity  and  uniformity. 

Another  defect  which  is  often  ex- 
tremely troublesome,  and  more  dif- 
ficult than  any  to  entirely  overcome, 
is  that  of 

ROLLING  SELVAGES. 
Where  this  defect  occurs  in  fulling, 
the  extra  warmth  produced  by  the 
sides    of  the    cloth  being  wrapped 
about  and  more  compact  in  fulling 


;j4  textile  defects 

produces  a  firmer  and  heavier  felt,  as 
well  as  more  compactness  of  the  warp 
threads,  so  that  it  tends  to  produce  a 
variation  in  shade  *'from  side  to  cen- 
tre", as  well  as  heavily  felted  streaks 
along  the  sides  of  the  cloth  that  are 
aifficult  to  remove. 

Ihis  trouble  is  often  the  legitimate 
result  of  the  construction  of  the  cloth, 
though  it  may  occur  from  other 
causes.  Cloth  having  a  preponderance 
of  tilling  upon  either  the  face  or  back 
will  always  incline  to  roll  toward  the 
filling  side;  and  though  the  trouble 
is  reterred  to  as  rolling  selvages,  cloth 
of  this  construction  will  roll,  even 
though  there  be  no  selvage,  and 
sometimes  as  it  comes  from  the  loom. 
A  striking  example  of  this  is  the  fab- 
ric known  as  the  Kentucky  jean,  hav- 
ing a  cotton  warp  and  wool  filling; 
a  five-harneiss  twill  weave,  with  four- 
fifths  of  the  filling  on  the  face,  which 
often  rolls  so  as  to  bother  the  shear- 
er, though  it  is  neither  fulled  nor 
scoured. 

Since  it  is  the  necessary  construc- 
tion of  such  cloth  that  causes  the  roll- 
ing, it  devolves  wholly  upon  the  fin- 
isher to  make  the  best  of  the  situa- 
tion. Probably  the  best  means  to  over- 
come the  trouble  is  to  use  a  tacking 
machine,  and  tack  the  selvages  togeth- 
er, preferably  with  the  filling  side  out, 
so  that  in  their  tendency  to  roll  each 
is  holding  the  other  somewhat  in 
place.  The  tacking  may  be  done  by 
hand;  but  the  machine  does  the  work 
better  and  more  quickly. 

Another  remedy  is  to  open  up  the 
pieces  frequently  during  the  fulling, 
and  to  draw  or  shake  them  out — in 
fact,  a  persistent  fight  against  the 
tendency  is  often  all  that  will  avail. 
A  cloth  having  a  tight  selvage,  or  a 
selvage  that  will  become  tighter  than 
the  cloth  while  fulling,  is  bound  to 
roll.  However,  a  careful  regulation  of 
the  tension  and  the  construction  of 
the  selvage,  so  that  it  will  at  all  times 
be  slacker  than  the  cloth,  will  avoid 
trouble. 

The  leaving  out  of  a  thread  of  the 


AND  SUGGESTIONS.   '  !i        '  (j 

selvage  in  weaving  will  sometimes 
cause  an  exposure  of  the  filling,  simi- 
lar to  a  float;  which,  shrinking  more 
on  that  account,  will  start  the  rolling, 
and  when  it  is  once  started,  the  extra 
neat  generated  by  its  being  more 
compact  than  the  rest  of  the  cloth 
will  increase  the  tendency  to  roll.  As 
already  intimated,  in  many  cases  the 
tendency  cannot  be  gotten  rid  of;  but 
a  careful  observance  of  the  means 
suggested  should  avoid  the  evil  re- 
sults. 

MILL  WRINKLES 
constitute  a  defect  caused  by  the 
cloth  running  in  the  fulling-mills  in 
folds  or  wrinkles  without  change,  un- 
til they  become  set  by  the  felting,  so 
that  their  effect  is  likely  to  show  in 
the  finished  goods. 

This  defect  is  most  marked  in  heav- 
ily-felted goods,  because  of  the  length 
of  time  they  have  to  run  in  fulling, 
their  lack  of  pliability  as  the  felt  in- 
creases, and  the  better  felting  qual- 
ity of  the  stock  used  in  goods  of  this 
character.  Where  these  folds  or  wrin- 
kles occur  in  the  cloth  during  the 
fulling,  and  continue  unbroken  for  a 
length  of  time,  the  fibres  felted  togeth- 
er close  up  on  the  inner  side  of  the 
fold,  making  it  all  the  time  more  per- 
manent, and  producing  streaks  thai 
are  more  heavily  felted  than  the  oth- 
er parts  of  the  cloth.  In  the  after-proc- 
esses these  wrinkles  and  streaks  are 
not  only  difficult  to  get  entirely  rid  of, 
but  in  gigging  or  napping  the  cloth, 
an  extra  density  of  nap  is  produced 
from  the  extra  felting  at  these  points, 
resulting  in  marks  upon  some  kinds 
of  cloth  that  cannot  be  removed;  es- 
pecially upon  face-finished  goods. 

If  a  machine  could  be  constructed 
that  would  result  in  breaking  up  the 
folds  in  the  cloth  after  it  comes  from 
the  fulling-mill  rolls,  and  before  it  en- 
ters them  again,  so  that  it  would  be 
constantly  changing,  intsead  of  run- 
ning continuously  in  the  same  folds, 
this  difficulty  might  be  overcome. 
Pending  the  invention  of  such  a  ma- 
chine, nothing  can  be  done  but  to  en- 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


115 


(leaver  to  overcome  the  evil  effects 
of  the  present  methods. 

To  accomplish  this,  our  first  sug- 
gestion is  to  avoid  an  extreme  pres- 
sure upon  the  cloth,  by  an  adjustment 
of  the  springs  that  regulate  it,  so  that 
there  will  be  just  enough  to  steady 
the  roll  and  keep  it  from  bouncing  up- 
on the  cloth.  The  heavy  pressure  un- 
duly crushes  the  cloth  and  tends  to 
set  the  wrinkles  from  the  start,  while 
a  more  gentle  pressure  will  avoid  it. 

Having  attended  to  this,  "overhaul" 
the  cloth  occasionally,  drawing  out 
the  wrinkles  and  allowing  it  to  cool 
somewhat,  v/hich  will  give  it  a  fresh 
start,  with  a  probability  of  changing 
the  folds  every  time  this  is  done.  By 
a  careful  study  of  the  result,  the  fin- 
isher should  be  able  tg  determine  how 
often  this  should  be  repeated. 

Another  advantage  is  to  remove  the 
cloth  from  the  mill  altogether,  when 
the  fulling  is  about  half  done,  and  run 
the  pieces  in  again — the  opposite  end 
first. 

All  this  calls  for  added  time  and  at- 
tention, but  the  results  attained  are 
well  worth  the  trouble. 

As  already  intimated,  mill  wrinkles 
are  peculiar  to  heavily-felted  goods; 
they  sometimes  occur,  however,  upon 
other  kinds  on  account  of  a  close  or 
crowded  condition  of  the  warp. 

Worsteds  or  other  goods  made 
largely  in  the  loom  tend  to  this  dif- 
ficulty, if  fulled;  and  an  over-crowded 
condition  of  the  warp  in  any  goods 
makes  them  more  susceptible  to  the 
difficulty.  No.  77. 


FILLING-ROOM. 


It  seems  to  me  that  one  of  the 
most  needed  and  most  responsible 
departments  in  our  mills  is  a  yarn  or 
filling-room.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it 
is  a  department,  which,  if  it  has  the 
right  man  in  it,  will  add  many  dol- 
lars to  the  income  of  a  mill  by  sav- 
ing it  during  the  year. 

The  cost  of  such  a  department  is 
but  little,  compared  to  its  economy,  and 


can  be  started  anywhere  and  increas- 
ed as  business  warrants  it.  The  larger 
the  plant,  the  more  needful  it  becomes. 
The  man  who  is  in  charge  should  be 
competent,  systematic  and  particu- 
lar, always  looking  out  for  the  inter- 
ests of  his  employer.  He  should  be 
independent  of  any  other  department 
in  the  mill,  and  should  receive  his 
orders  only  from  headquarters.  He 
should  also  be  able  to  know  yarns  so 
that  every  defect  could  be  noticed.  If 
he  is  such,  the  following  lines  of  econ- 
omy will  be  carried  out,  and  the 
consequence  will  be  a  marked  de- 
crease of  poor  work  throughout  the 
mill — resulting  in  more  and  better 
cloth  from  the  same  amount  of  yarn, 
which,  of  course,  means  a  reduced 
number  of  seconds. 

In  the  first  place  comes  the  matter 
of  economy  in  the  line  of 

DEFECTS  IN  YARNS, 
which  are:  (1)  Off-shade  yarns;  some 
of  which  may  not  be  detected  until 
samples  are  washed  and  compared 
with  original  samples.  (2)  Uneven 
dyeing;  such  as  is  very  common  in 
skein-dyed  worsteds.  (3)  Uneven 
twist;  coming  from  two  or  more 
threads  of  uneven  yarn  being  put  to- 
gether. (4)  Mixed  lots;  which  may  oc- 
cur during  transition  cf  stock  from 
wool-room  through  to  weave-room. 
(5)  Uneven,  light,  heavy  and  doubled 
yarn;  made  either  in  carding,  spin- 
ning, drawing  or  winding  by  fault  of 
machinery  or  carelessness  of  oper- 
ator. (6)  Poorly-wound  yarn  and  soft 
bobbins;  caused  by  fault  of  m,achin- 
ery  or  careless  work.  (7)  Discolored 
and  wet  yarn;  caused  by  straining  or 
conditioning.  (8)  Rewound  yarns; 
which  may  have  more  or  less  bad 
threads.  One  cannot  imagine  what 
loss  is  incurred  by  neglecting  the 
above,  and  with  the  right  man  many 
of  them  can  be  averted,  and  the  rest 
remedied  to  a  certain  extent  by  the 
use  of  a  sorting  and  shading  table. 

Next  comes  the  matter  of 

ECONOMY  IN  WASTE. 

Not  an  ounQQ  of  yarn  should  be  wast- 


116 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


ed,  if  possible,  and  this  can  be  accom- 
plished by  the  use  of  a  winder  to  wind 
up  all  poor  bobbins,  etc.^  and  have 
them  woven  in  the  end  of  a  piece  where 
they  should  go,  rather  than  scattering 
such  yarn  throughout  the  piece.  Left- 
overs and  odds  and  ends,  if  any,  should 
be  put  away  separately  until  called  for 
either  as  substitutes  or  remnants.  All 
yarns  whether  warp,  filling,  or  pattern 
stock  could  be  kept  in  one  room  in  a 
systematic  way,  which  would  mini- 
mize the  finding  of  odd  yarns.  This, 
however,  is  accomplished  best  by  hav- 
ing everything  under  lock  and  key. 
Think  of  the  risks  and  losses  that  are 
tolerated  by  having  the  yarn  scattered 
throughout  the  mill,  some  of  which  is 
near  a  sunny  window  fading  and  some 
in  a  dark  corner  catching  all  the  odd 
bobbins,  and  so  forth.  Last,  but  not 
least,  is  the  saving  of  time  and  space. 
The  man  who  has  charge  of  the  room 
can  have  the  yarn  so  arranged  that  he 
can  in  a  minute  tell  where  a  certain 
kind  is,  and  so  give  it  to  the  carriers 
or  to  whoever  calls  for  it.  All  the 
yarn  should  be  brought  to  him  for 
storage  and  inspection  and  be  delivered 
as  needed.  He  should  be  in  a  position 
that  would  enable  him  to  follow  the 
lots  through  the  mill  and  be  able  to 
know  just  when  they  will  be  ready  for 
the  weaver  or  whoever  needs  them. 
By  such  knowledge  he  can  keep  the 
weaver  informed  as  to  which  warps 
to  put  in  when  a  number  are  ahead. 
He  should  also  be  alert  as  to  the 
needs  of  the  weaver,  so  that  his  filling 
supply  will  not  run  short.  By  so  doing, 
time  will  be  saved  and  production  in- 
creased. Headquarters  could  be  kept 
informed  by 

DAILY  REPORTS. 
A  stock  sheet  of  yarn  on  hand  could 
also  be  taken  at  a  very  short  notice, 
which  would  show  to  all  concerned  just 
what  yarn  was  on  hand.  Boughten 
yarns  could  be  sent  direct  to  the  yarn 
room  and  weighed  and  reported,  like- 
wise shipments  made  from  there,  if 
any.  Another  important  item  is  that 
of  having  one  lot  of  yarn  completely 


finish  a  piece  of  cloth  in  place  of 
having  several  pieces  begin  a  new  lot 
part  way  through  the  piece.  To  ac- 
complish this,  a  system  of  tickets  could 
be  used  to  furnish  information  at  the 
right  time.  No.  78. 


STRIKING  A  LEASE  ON  A 
SLASHER. 


The  advantages  are  so  many  in  tak- 
ing a  lease  in  the  making  of  a  warp 
that  I  think  it  would  interest  your 
readers  to  know  how  a  lease  is  obtain- 
ed on  a  slasher  running  on  fancy  col- 
ored work.  As  an  example  we  will  take 
the  following  p9,ttern: 


Threads. 

10  black   1,900 

1  red    95 

1  purple    95 

1  yellow    95 

1  blue    95 

2  brown    190 

1  green    95 

1  pink    95 

1  white    95 

1  tan    95 

10  black   

30     (95  times)  equals  2,850 

Yarns  are  beamed  as  follows — black 
2-633  thread,  1-634  thread: 

No.  1  fancy  beam.  Threads 

1  white    95 

1  green    95 

1  brown    95 

1  yellow    95 

1  red    95 

5     (95  times)  equals   475 

No.  2  fancy  beam.  Threads* 

1  tan    95 

1  pink    95 

1  brown   ;   95 

1  blue    95 

1  purple    95 

5     (95  times)  equals   475 


PUTTING-IN  SET. 
When  placing  the  beams  in  the  creel 
for  dressing,  place  No.  1  next  to  the 
reed  3  black  beams — then  No.  2  (see 
Figure  3).  We  have  got  our  beams 
placed,  and  now  put  in  our  lease  rods 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


117 


and  get  ready  to  twist  in.  There  being 
two  ends  in  each  dent  of  the  reed, 
both  are  taken  simultaneously  when 
twisting  in.  Now  begin  twisting  in  the 
pattern,  which  starts  with  ten  ends 


Fig.  1. 

of  black,  taking  them  off  the  three 
black  beams  as  follows:  top  centre, 
centre  bottom,  top  bottom,  top  centre, 
centre  bottom — which  gives  us  ten 
black  ends.  We  now  take  one  end  of 
each  of  the  pattern  beams  five  times, 
which  completes  the  first  pattern.  We 
have  20  ends  of  black  to  twist  this 
time  and  must  remember  where  we 
left  off,  so  as  to  start  rignt  and  have 
the  ends  on  each  beam  come  out  even 
at  the  finish.  We  left  off  at  one  centre, 
one  bottom.  Thus,  we  start,  top  bot- 
tom, top  centre,  centre  bottom,  and 
so  on,  until  we  get  our  20  ends,  then 
end  off  each  of  the  pattern  beams  as 
before,  five  times. 

STRIKING  LEASE. 

When  we  get  all  twisted  in,  we  pull 
out  all  the  lease  rods,  except  the  one 
in  the  centre  black  beam,  where  we 
keep  one  rod  in  to  give  us  our  half 
shed.  We  run  the  centre  beam  with  a 
splitting  rod  all  the  way  (see  Figure  3). 
Then  run  the  twists  through  the  reed, 
and  get  ready  to  strike  the  lease.  To 
do  so,  we  proceed  as  follows: 

Take  a  lease  rod,  and  run  it  through. 
Where  the  splitting  rod  is  in  the  cen- 
tre beam,  push  it  close  up  to  the  reed. 
Leave  it  there  and  take  another  rod 
with  a  string  on  the  end  of  it  (see  Fig- 
ure 2),  run  it  through  the  shed  at  the 
back  of  the  reed,  leave  the  string  in 


and  pull  the  rod  out.  Now  take  the 
rod  we  left  at  the  front  of  the  reed 
and  pulling  the  reed  over,  raise  the 
yarn  on  top  into  the  hook  that  is  in 
each  dent  of  the  reed  (see  Figure  1). 
Then  put  a  rod  under  the  yarn,  push 
the  reed  over  the  other  way  and  pass 
that  half  of  the  yarn  past  the  hooks 
to  the  top  of  the  reed,  which  gives  us 
the  other  shed  of  the  lease.  We  now 
take  the  rod  and  string  as  before,  pass- 
ing the  string  through  and  leaving  it 
there,  and  we  have  our  lease  complet- 
ed. Then  start  the  machine  and  run 
the  lease  along  a  yard  or  two  (first 
letting  the  rods  down  that  were  hold- 
ing up  the  yarn  at  the  front  of  the 
reed).  Next  take  the  rod  and  string 
again,  and  put  a  string  through  the 
half  shed  to  put  in  our  splitting  rod 
at  the  front  of  the  machine.  Start  up 
the  machine  and  run  the  lease  strings 
through  to  the  front. 

PASSING  THROUGH  RADDLE. 

When  the  lease  strings  are  close 
up  to  the  raddle  take  the  flat 
rod,  and  putting  the  end  of  the 
rod  between  the  string,  (which  is 
double),  push  it  through  and  putting 


Fig.  2, 

it  close  up  to  the  comb,  place  it  edge- 
wise; then  taking  the  rod  and  string, 
put  the  string  through  the  front  of  the 
comb,  and  starting  the  machine  a  lit- 
tle do  the  same  with  the  other  string. 


118 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


I    (  ) 


and  we  have  the  lease  completed.  We 
now  put  the  splitting  rod  where  the 
last  string  is.  Leave  it  in  its  place 
just  at  the  back  of  th^  comb,  and  cut 


out  the  full  warp.  Pat  in  an  empty 
beam,  and  the  machine  is  all  ready  to 
run. 

As  the  sizing  solution  used  is  not 
more  than  a  5  per  cent  solution,  and 
more  frequently  a  3  per  cent,  the  size 
will  not  cake  when  the  machine  stops. 

No.  79. 


"OLD  KENTUCKY  JEAN." 


I  note  with  much  interest  the  varied 
ideas  submitted  in  your  prize  essay 
contest,  and  as  a  subscriber  to  your 
journal,  desire  to  submit  for  your  con- 
sideration the  following  article  on  one 
of  the  oldest  fabrics  of  the  country  as 
a  basis — that  is,  the  ''Old  Kentucky 
Jean" — or  filling  face  fabric. 

This  fabric  was  the  pioneer  cloth  for 
one-quarter  of  a  century,  until  cheap 
union  cassimeres  were  introduced  by 
our  mills  to  meet  the  modern  ideas  of 
the  progressive  farmer  and  mountain- 
eer of  the  South.  Great  strides  havf 
been  made  by  builders  of  carding  and 
spinning  machines,  also  looms — sucli 
as  the  Crompton  &  Knowles,  etc.,  for 
producing  fancy  effects  in  design. 

It  may  be  divulging  a  costly  secret 
to  some  of  your  readers  when  I  tell 
you  that  I  find  some  of  our  mills,  hav- 
ing replaced  the  five-harness 

SIDE  CAM  LOOM 
for  the  fancy  head-motion  loom,  are 
only  making  the  cheapest  of  cotton- 
warp  striped  goods  with  wool-card- 
ed filling,  when  without  <iost  the 
discarded  loom  as  it  is  can  be  made 
to  produce  the  old  jean  fabric,  with 
a  second  warp  for  face  decoration 
equal  in  appearance  to  the  finest  of 
woolen  or  worsted  effects  in  varied 
colors,  that  will  compare  well  with 
similar  fabrics  made  on  a  fancy  head- 
motion  loom. 
As 

AN  ILLUSTRATION, 
the  popular  suiting    fabric  in  blue 
ground  with  white  hair-line  stripe  ev- 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SUGGfeSTIONS. 


119 


ery  one-half  inch  or  one  inch  apai 
also  the  pin  stripe  can  be  produced  on 
this  narrow  side  cam  loom  by  the  ap- 
plication of  warp  face  cams  and  extra 
harness  for  the  decoration  warp,  ac- 
cording to  the  art  in  design.  Just  the 
same  as  the  head-motion  loom,  or  600 
hooks  in  the  jacquard  machine  work 
independently  of  each  other,  so  will 
the  applied  cams  work  for  the  face 
decoration  warp  whenever  applied  with 
skill  and  judgment  by  the  designer. 
The  many  thousands  of  cam  looms, 
both  cotton  and  woolen,  either  running 
or  standing  idle,  remain  the  same  to- 
day as  when  they  left  the  loom  works 
fitted  up  for  five-harness  satin-filling 
face — that  is,  one  harness  up  and  four 
down,  for  filling  pick  alternately,  like- 
wise the  same  where  three-harness 
weave  is  wanted. 

SEEING  IS  BELIEVING. 

Now,  Mr.  Editor,  it  may  be  that  I 
shall  cause  grief  to  some  of  our  boss 
weavers  and  superintendents  who  have 
been  plodding  away  in  the  belief  that 
they  were  making  the  only  fabric  that 
this  loom  could  produce.  And  as  one 
large  mill  owner  said,  he  had  been 
twenty-five  years  in  the  business,  ana 
had  never  seen  any  other  fabric  made. 
Holding  a  prominent  position  with 
him,  I  proved  my  claim  by  making  the 
necessary  change  on  this  old  jean 
loom,  and  produced  a  new  fabric  in  the 
fancy  designs,  samples  of  which  I  send 
herewith  for  verification.  (On  file  in 
this  office.)  It  has  always  been  an 
understood  fact  that  where  you  want- 
ed to  get  a  double  cloth  effect,  you 
had  to  use  corresponding  cams  for  the 
face  and  back;  that  is,  if  you  wanted 
three-harness  for  face,  you  had  to  have 
three  for  back  warp,  likewise  with  a 
five-harness  fabric. 

HOW  SAMPLES  WERE  MADE. 

These  samples  were  made  with 
three-filling  face  cams  and  harness 
and  one  face  warp  cam  and  harness 
for  decoration  in  design,  working  in 
conjunction  with  each  other.  For  a 
pin  stripe,  only  two  additional  face 


;,  warp  cams  are  required  for  decora- 
tion. As  all  looms  of  this  make  have 
attachments  for  seven-harness,  the 
same  designs  and  mode  of  operation 
can  be  produced  on  a  five-harness  sat- 
in ground  with  applied  decoration  in 
warp  design.  In  this  I  have  found  a 

NEW  "CREATION" 
in  fabric  and  mode  of  operation,  and 
have  applied  for  a  patent  on  this  fab- 
ric and  method,  which  should  be  of 
great  value  to  the  hundreds  of  mills 
fitted  up  with  these  looms,  both  wool- 
en and  cotton. 

Now,  I  believe  I  have  given  you  an 
original  article  that  will  commend  it- 
self for  bringing  to  life  a  loom  and 
fabric  which  were  considered  passe. 

No.  80. 


SUGGESTIONS  OF  A  COT- 
TON SPINNER. 


I  will  give  my  ideas  of  how  to  avoid 
making  lumpy  and  uneven  yarn  in  the 
spinning  department.  First,  do  not  al- 
low spinners  to  draw  guide-wipe 
through  the  ends  so  as  to  let  it  touch 
these  ends,  for  that  sometimes  causes 
uneven  yarn.  Another  thing  is  not  to 
allow  spinners  to  fan  out  separators 
and  rings  when  the  frame  is  in  opera- 
tion, because  that  makes  the  lint  fly 
onto  the  roving  and  ends.  Separators 
and  rings  should  be  fanned  off  when 
tiie  frame  is  doffing.  See  that  the 
rollers  are  cleaned  and  oiled  daily  and 
the  spindles  oiled  regularly  every  two 
weeks,  for  when  these  spindles  dry  it 
causes  them  to  wear  out  and  also 
causes  the  expense  of  overhauling. 

Saddles  turned  up-side-down  cause 
lumpy  yarn.  See  that  levers  are  true 
and  the  same  amount  of  weight  is  on 
each  roll.  Do  not  let  the  levers  rest  on 
anything  and  see  that  good  rollers  are 
kept  in  the  front.  I  have  noticed  that 
some  section  men  take  out  the  front 
roll  and  lay  it  in  the  back.  Good  roll- 
ers shoul(?.  be  kep/  in  the  back  as  well 


120 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


as  in  the  front,  as  bad  rollers  cause 
bad  work  and  make  uneven  yarn.  All 
draft  gears  should  be  set  up  right  and 
not  so  deeply  as  to  crumble  them.  The 
overseer  should  keep  close  watch  of  the 
second  hand  and  fixers  and  make  them 
keep  things  cleaned  up.  I  have  noticed 
In  some  mills  that  so  much  dirt  has 
been  allowed  to  accumulate  behind  the 
tubes,  on  the  spindles,  that  it  puts  a 
brake  on  the  latter,  thus  making  bad 
work  and  a  loss  of  production.  The 
section  man  should  be  on  the  look- 
out and  keep  his  roving  traverse  mo- 
tions all  running,  for  when  the  traverse 
is  standing  it  makes  bad  work  and 
ruins  the  rollers.  No.  81. 
 ■»  »  ».  . 

INESTIMABLE  TROUBLE. 


Study  the  raw  stock  from  which  the 
yarns  are  made.  Prepare  it 
thoroughly  and  systematically  in 
the  picker-room.  This  is  the 
foundation  for  success,  and  will 
eliminate  inestimable  trouble  in  the 
future  process  of  manufacture  in  all 
departments.  No.  82. 


FINISHING  CASSIMERES. 


First  have  your  goods — the  number 
of  yards,  the  style,  weight,  etc.,  sewed 
on  by  hand  or  machine,  then  have 
them  burled  back,  if  no  end.  Have  all 
lumps,  slubs  and  knots  picked  out 
carefully  so  as  not  to  make  any  light 
places  in  the  cloth,  then  burl  on  face 
and  mark  all  threads  out  or  wrong 
draws,  so  as  to  make  it  easier  for  the 
mender.  The  finisher  will  be  sur- 
prised to  see  how  much  more  he  can 
have  turned  off,  which  will  be  a  big 
saving  for  the  company  he  works  for. 
Then  have  the  goods  tacked,  as  tack- 
ing will  cause  them  to  full  more  evenly 
than  they  would  otherwise. 

SHRINKING  AND  CLEANSING. 
Now  put  in  your  yard-string  for 


shrinkage.  Be  sure  your  selvage  is 
not  too  loose,  as  it  may  deceive  you  in 
the  shrinkage,  the  cloth  shrinking 
more  quickly  than  the  selvage.  Now  put 
in  the  mill  and  sew  with  a  machine  so 
as  to  prevent  streaks  on  the  ends.  Have 
your  soap  the  right  strength  for  the 
stock  you  handle,  and  feed  on  soap 
when  the  mill  is  in  motion.  Feed  slow- 
ly from  a  pail — do  not  let  your  fuller- 
man  throw  in  the  pailful  as  I  have 
seen  some  do — have  a  man  to  hand 
him  the  soap  so  that  the  work  may  be 
done  evenly.  Be  careful  not  to  get 
too  much  soap  on,  as  it  will  cause  the 
goods  to  slip  and  chafe.  While  in  this 
condition  the  goods  will  not  full,  and 
if  let  run  in  that  state  will  feel  like  a 
rag. 

Should  you  get  too  much  soap  on, 
take  a  fresh  piece  and  run  in  to  ab- 
sorb the  extra  moisture.  Watch  your 
fulling  closely,  as  it  is  here  where  you 
make  or  spoil  a  piece  of  goods.  Your 
goods  being  now  ready  for  the  washer, 
and  your  shrinkage  being  what  you 
think  it  ought  to  be,  start  your  washer, 
turning  on  a  little  luke-warm  water — 
just  enough  to  make  them  lather  up 
well  for  10  or  15  minutes;  then  wash 
off  with  warm  water.  If  the  goods 
are  low-stock,  put  a  pailful  of  soap  to 
each  piece,  let  run  for  10  minutes,  wash 
off  one-half  hour  in  warm  water  and 
three-quarters  of  an  hour  in  cold.  The 
time  it  will  take  to  cleanse  your  goods 
depends  on  the  flow  of  water  available. 
UNIFORM  RESULTS. 

Now  extract  and  dry  at  57  inches. 
Be  sure  and  get  them  on  the  pins  so 
as  to  get  the  piece  uniform  and  nice. 
Your  goods  being  now  dry,  have  them 
back-burled  for  knots  and  so  forth, 
and  give  them  a  few  runs  on  the  nap- 
per,  as  it  will  make  it  easier  to  shear 
and  brings  the  pattern  out  more  dis- 
tinct. Shear  to  sample,  press  twice 
and  reverse  with  a  fair  amount  of 
steam  on  front  and  back,  let  stop 
and  roll  over  night.  A  few  runs  on  a 
steam-brush  and  steaming  before 
pressing  will  be  of  much  benefit.  Now 
examine,  roll  and  case.         No.  83. 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


121 


WOOLEN  SPINNING. 


Under  this  head  there  are  probably 
a  large  number  of  chances  for  im- 
provement in  differenx  parts  of  the 
machinery,  but  there  is  one  matter  of 
which  I  wish  to  speak,  which  will  go 
far  toward  more  perfect  yarn  and  in 
turn  be  of  great  benefit  to  the  several 
processes  following  the  spinning.  I  re- 
fer, therefore,  to  the 

EASE-UP  MOTION 
of  the  mule. 

In  order  to  give  a  good  idea  of  the 
principle  of  the  ease-up  motion,  I  will 
endeavor  to  explain  its  purpose.  After 
the  mule  has  taken  its  full  stretcn, 
and  the  twist  is  running  into  the  yarn, 
it  becomes  evident  that  there  is  need 
of  something  to  draw  the  carriage 
slightly  toward  the  rolls,  for  the  rea- 
son that  the  contraction  of  the  yarn, 
due  to  the  twist  taking  it  up  in 
length,  will  cause  it  to  twist  off  before 
it  has  received  the  full  amount  ot 
twist. 

I  have  failed  to  find  an  ease-up  mo- 
tion that  will  do  its  work  properly  in 
all  cases.  Sometimes  you  can  get  the 
adjustment  that  is  best  for  the  yarn 
in  a  few  minutes.  At  other  times  it 
may  take  from  one-half  to  one  hour 
and  a  half  to  get  the  desired  result, 
and  still  again,  it  becomes  an  impos- 
sibility. The  average  fixer  generally 
does  what  is  easiest,  and  lets  it  go  at 
that.  In  order  for  an  ease-up  motion 
to  do  its  work  best  and  save  time  in 
the  adjustment,  it  should  be  iso  con- 
structed that  the  fixer  can  make  ex- 
treme changes  in  a  few  minutes'  time: 
that  is  to  say,  that  the  machine  could 
be  made  to  ease  up  very  slowly  or 
very  fast,  as  the  specific  case  mign: 
require.  It  should  also  have  a  dwell. 

What  I  mean  by  a  ^'dwell"  is  than 
the  fixer,  if  the  yarn  requires  it,  should 
he  able  to  hold  the  carriage  still  long 
enough  for  the  yarn  to  get  tight  to  the 


point  of  twisting  off  before  the  mule 
starts  to  ease  up. 

PURPOSE  OP  THE  "DWELL". 

I  will  endeavor  to  explain  why  this 
should  be  so.  After  the  yarn  has  been 
properly  drawn,  it  is  never  perfect — 
there  are  always  some  places  that  are 
finer  than  others,  and  the  twist  will 
run  into  these  fine  places  first.  If  the 
mule  is  not  easing  up  fast  enough,  the 
yarn  will  twist  off,  and  if  it  eases  up 
too  fast,  the  twist,  running  mostly  in- 
to the  fine  places,  will  make  the  yarn 
look  rough;  and,  in  turn,  mure  twist 
will  be  required  to  give  the  relative 
amount  of  strength  than  would  be  the 
case  provided  the  ease-up  motion  was 
working  to  keep  the  yarn  at  just  the 
proper  tension. 

If  the  mule,  therefore,  starts  lo  ease 
up  at  just  the  proper  time,  and  at  the 
proper  speed,  it  will  be  a  great  help  to 
the  yarn.  What  I  mean  by  the  proper 
speed  is  that  the  yarn  should  be  as 
tight  as  possible,  right  to  the  point  of 
twisting  off,  all  the  time  that  the  mule 
is  easing  up.  When  this  point  is  ac 
complished,  the  soft  places  in  the  yarn 
will  in  a  measure  be  drawn  out,  there- 
by producing  a  rounder  and  smoother 
thread.  No.  84. 

PARALLmTrUBES. 


While  in  charge  of  a  dressing  room, 
the  writer  was  impelled  to  make  some 
experiments  in  warping  from  parallel 
tubes  to  avoid  what  seemed  a  very 
unnecessary  expense. 

His  employers  purchased  some  40.- 
000  pounds  of  1-20  carded  yarn  in 
shades.  This  was  a  stock  job  lot  of 
the  required  shade  and  required  soft 
twist  (square  of  4),  and  was  on  tubes. 
We  expected  to  have  to  rewind  this 
yarn  on  spools,  as  all  previous  efforts 
to  warp  from  tubes  were  ineffectual. 
In  rewinding,  the  yarn  was  much  im- 
paired and  weakened,  and  warped  bad- 
ly.   By  way  of  experiment,  a  set  gf 


122 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


tubes  was  tied-in  in  the  warper,  but 
before  many  yards  were  run,  it  was 
evident  that  under  the  ordinary  ar- 
rangement of  creel,  warping  could  not 
be  done  from  tubes.  Experiments  were 
continued  with  single  tubes  run  in 
with  spools.  We  found  that  the 

IRREGULARITY  OP  TENSION 
was  caused  by  the  uprights  that  sup- 
port the  skewers.  These  were  not 
placed  in  proper  relationship  to  the 
uprights  around  which  thread  from 
tubes  bent.  To  remedy  this,  we  re- 
arranged the  uprights  so  that  both 
ends  of  the  skewers  were  equi-distant 
from  the  point  around  which  the 
thread  bent.  This  we  proved  by 
changing  over  creel,  giving  the  under- 
mentioned results.  This  arrangement 
eliminated  all  jerky  motion  and  se- 
cured an  even  tension  of  thread  from 
tube  to  beam. 

The  using  of  tubes  instead  of  spools 
proved  so  satisfactory  that  it  was  de- 
cided to  buy  our  yarns,  thereafter,  on 
tubes.  We  changed  over  all  our 
eighteen  warper  creels.  We  were  not 
equipped  to  wind  all  our  yarn,  and 
we  had  to  warp  a  large  amount  of  it 
from  'Spools.  This  we  kept  in  mind 
when  re-arranging  creels,  so  that 
creels  were  adapted  to  spools  as  well 
as  tubes.  We  had,  therefore,  ample  op- 
portunity to  compare  the  spool  and 
tube,  while  making  these  tests. 

We  were  running  on  a  very  large 
variety  of  yarns.  My  instructions  were 
that  any  new  kinds  of  yarns,  numbers, 
etc.,  be  wound  on  tubes  to  the  pound 
weight  of  a  slasher  set.  This  was  done 
so  that  our  test  would  be  most  com- 
plete. 

GRATIFYING  RESULTS. 
The  results  were  uniform  and  cov- 
ered the  warping  of  cotton  1-20,  1-30, 
1-40,  1-50,  2-58,  2-80,  2-100,  2-120,  and 
worsted  2-32  and  1-30.  The  results 
were  good  level  beam,  increase  of 
speed  of  some  50  per  cent,  (this  being 
necessary  to  provide  tension  to  hold 
up  drop  wires)  a  uniform  tension  from 
either  a  large  or  small  tube,  and  less 


strain  in  handling  of  yarn,  which 
makes  it  possible  to  use  the  same 
creel  on  all  numbers.  As  a  tube  holds 
twice  as  much  yarn  as  a  spool  occu- 
pying the  same  space,  a  saving  of 
time  in  tying-over  is  effected. 
The  following  tests  were  made: 
Test  1.— 1-30  worsted  (16  turns  to 
the  inch),  one  slasher  set  of  5  beams 
(3,600  yards  each),  the  whole  set  from 
one  tie-up.  Each  beam  of  this  set  run 
out  level  in  the  slasher.  The  result 
showed  that  the  first  beam  warped 
from  full  tubes  was  the  same  as  the 
first  beam  warped  from  small  tubes. 
This  is  impossible  from  spools. 

Test  2. — Two  beams  of  a  4-beam  set 
were  made  from  spools.  The  other  two 
beams  were  made  from  tubes.  The  re- 
sult was  that  when  the  set  finished 
on  slasher,  the  two  beams  made  from 
tubes  had  11  per  cent  of  total  length 
still  on  beams.  This  showed  that 
yarns  wound  and  warped  retained 
more  elasticity  than  yarns  spooled  and 
w-arped. 

All  yarns  we  wound  were  wound  on 
wooden  tubes.  All  yarns  bought  were 
bought  on  paper  tubes.  We  had  a  spe- 
cial skewer  for  paper  tubes.  Our 
wooden  tubes  were  bored  to  take  the 
usual  skewer.  We  found  wooden  tubes 
by  far  the  best.  No.  85. 

COCKLY  CREASED  GOODS. 


In  my  mind  the  greatest  defect  in 
the  textile  trade  is  the  cockly  creased 
and  generally  unfinished  look  of  some 
of  the  cloths  used  for  both  ladies'  and 
gentlemen's  wear.  I  refer  chiefly  to 
fancies,  and  in  many  cases  the  trouble 
lies  in  the  finishing.  I  have  looked  up 
quite  a  number  of  mills  and  talked 
with  the  finishers  and  managers  of 
same  and  find  the  goods  finished  with 
just  a  scour  and  then  dried,  brushed 
or  napped,  as  the  case  may  be,  and 
then  sheared,  dewed  and  pressed. 

A  cloth  treated  in  that  way  is  not 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


i2^ 


set,  nor  has  it  any  chance  to  become 
so;  hence,  the  look  of  the  cloth  as  soon 
as  it  is  put  into  a  garment  and  loses 
its  pressing. 

I  have  heard  people  argue  that  a 
fancy  did  not  require  any  setting  ow- 
ing to  the  fact  that  the  yarn  was  pre- 
viously dyed  which  gave  it  all  the  set 
required.  How  about  a  cloth  made 
with  colored  and  white  threads  in  it  or 
in  yarns  of  a  different  color  all  dyed? 
If  the  cloth  is  not  set  it  will  cockle 
sooner  or  later,  and  as  a  rule  soon 
after  leaving  the  tailor's.  Others 
argue  that  you  cannot  set  it  with- 
out making  the  colors  bleach;  but  with 
careful  working  it  can  be  done  with  al- 
most any  color  or  dye. 

THE  SETTING. 

The  setting,  or  it  may  be  called  crab- 
bing, can  be  done  two  or  three  differ- 
ent ways  and  at  various  stages  of  the 
process.  The  most  effective  is  to  take 
the  pieces  in  the  gray  condition  and 
blow  steam  through  in  a  similar  man- 
ner as  is  done  on  a  steamer  for  luster- 
ing,  etc.  previously  fitting  the  steam 
piping  with  drain  cocks  or  traps  to  en- 
sure absence  of  water  of  condensa- 
tion. A  few  extra  folds  of  leader  cloth 
may  be  put  around  the  cylinders  to 
prevent  moisture  reaching  the  cloth 
while  it  is  steaming. 

I  have  found  ten  minutes'  steaming 
with  a  pressure  of  sixty  pounds  to  give 
very  good  results.  After  the  required 
time,  close  steam  valves  and  wind  cloth 
onto  the  small  wooden  roller  provided 
for  that  purpose  and  allow  the  goods  to 
lie  on  it  until  cool,  or  about  twelve 
hours.  On  the  regular  size  of  cylinder 
up  to  200  yards  of  cloth  may  be  steam- 
ed at  one  operation,  and  if  it  is  incon- 
venient to  have  the  cloth  lying  around 
on  rolls  it  may  be  taken  onto  the 
other  steaming  cylinder  and  steamed 
for  ten  minutes  more,  after  which  the 
cloth  may  be  taken  off  hot  and  should 
be  scoured  immediately. 

GREAT  CARE  AFTER  STEAMING. 
Great  care  ought  to  be  exercised 


after  steaming  to  prevent  any  water 
being  admitted  to  the  cylinders.  If 
any  trouble  is  found  such  as  marking, 
etc.,  they  use  a  piece  of  unbleached 
cotton  sheeting,  winding  both  cloth  and 
sheeting  onto  the  steaming  cylinder 
together  after  the  manner  of  a  decat- 
ing  machine.  I  have  also  used  vari- 
ous kinds  of  decating  machines  for 
the  purpose  with  good  results.  If 
there  is  any  objection  to  steaming  the 
cloth  in  the  gray,  such  as  an  excessive 
amount  of  dirt,  oil  or  loose  color,  it  is 
preferable  to  scour  and  dry  the  cloth 
then  steam  as  suggested. 

After  this  steaming,  the  cloth  will 
probably  have  a  rather  boardy  and 
harsh  handle,  which  a  light  soaping  in 
the  washer  and  then  drying  will  turn 
into  a  soft  silky  feel. 

I  enclose  you  a  sample  of  cloth 
which  has  not  been  steamed  and  three 
more  (the  dark  patterns)  which  have 
been  treated  according  to  my  sugges- 
tion.* No.  86. 

*  Editorial  Note. — The  samples  referred 
to  above  are  in  our  possession  and  may  be 
seen  on  application  to  this  office. 


CARDED  AND  COMBED 
COTTON. 


To  grade  cotton  is  far  more  difficult 
to-day  than  it  was  years  back.  This  is 
one  reason  why  most  mills  have  some- 
one to  examine  each  bale  and  consign 
it  to  the  mixing  with  which  the  staple 
corresponds  in  length,  and  frequently 
the  person  examining  the  cotton  has 
no  knowledge  of  any  other  qualifica- 
tion necessary  from  making  success- 
fully a  given  grade  of  yarn,  besides 
the  length  of  staple  which  they  are 
informed  must  go  into  the  mixing. 
Overseers  are  expected  to  know  how 
to  get  clean,  even  work  from  the  stock 


124 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


supplied  to  them.  Cotton  bought  for 
1-inch  or  ll-inch  staple  frequently  has 
bales  mixed  in  with  it  of  li-inch  or 
1  3-16-inch  staple,  and  may  have  such 
defects  as  neps  from  ginning,  dirt  and 
stains,  immature  cotton  and  irregu- 
larity in  length  of  staple.  This  cotton 
should  be  put  aside  and  placed  with 
the  mixing  corresponding  to  the 
length  of  the  longest  staple  that  can 
be  pulled  from  it,  as  this  is  the  right 
way  to  use  it.  If,  however,  it  is  dunap- 
ed  in  with  the  other  cotton — as  you 
would  an  ordinary  bale — it  will  dam- 
age the  mixing  it  goes  with;  and,  as 
most  mills  to-day  are  putting  down 
small  mixing,  damaged  bales  will  not 
get  mixed  up  with  the  other  stock  be- 
fore leaving  the  picker-room,  and  the 
cotton  will  not  have  lost  its  impurities 
in  the  process. 

WORK  IN  THE  PICKER-ROOM. 

The  picker-room  is  expected  to  do 
much  more  than  the  machines  are  made 
for.  The  pickers  open  out  th^  cotton, 
let  the  sand  and  heavy  impurities  fall 
from  the  stock  and  deliver  it  to  the 
cards,  with  all  the  foreign  material 
removed.  This  is  done  by  opening  out 
the  cotton  from  the  bale,  and  feeding 
it  to  the  hopper;  which  delivers  it 
evenly  to  the  feed-rolls,  where  the 
beaters  tear  it  apart  and  the  draft 
from  the  fan  carries  it  with  force 
against  the  screen.  This,  in  turn,  re- 
volves, and  carries  the  cotton  forward 
to  be  dealt  with  again  in  the  same 
way.  The  stock  then  passes  through 
the  calenders  to  be  pressed  in  a  sheet, 
so  that  when  rolled  on  the  lap-rod  it 
will  come  off  evenly.  There  is  much 
difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  speed 
at  which  to  run  the  beater  and  fans — 
I  prefer  a  moderate  speed.  Some  run 
the  fan  at  an  excessive  speed,  and 
require  in  consequence  a  device  to 
stop  the  cotton  from  being  drawn  with 
the  force  of  the  draft  against  the 
screen  so  that  it  is  held  there,  and 
making,  in  the  unrolling  of  the  lap, 
what  are  termed  split  laps.  To  remedy 


this,  I  have  seen  many  devices 
brought  into  play — such  as  putting 
strips  of  leather  round  the  screen,  or 
obstructions  of  different  kinds  on  the 
plate  between  the  sand-box  and  the 
screen.  All  these  serve  to  prevent  the 
cotton  from  being  drawn  to  the  screen 
with  too  much  force. 

The  longer  the  staple  of  cotton,  the 
more  the  pickers  require  to  work  it  in 
order  to  turn  it  out  to  the  cards  in 
a  satisfactory  condition;  and  when  an 
unusually  dirty  bale  or  one  with  im- 
mature cotton  has  to  go  into  cleaner 
and  better  stock,  it  ought  to  be  given 
an  extra  run  through  the  breaker  be- 
fore being  mixed  with  the  clean  cot- 
ton. If  this  was  done,  it  would  save 
much  trouble,  and  the  cards  would 
not  have  the  extra  work  they  are  re- 
quired to  do  when  the  stock  is  deliv- 
ered to  them  in  a  condition  they  are 
not  prepared  to  cope  with.  In  conse- 
quence, oftentimes,  they  turn  out  sliv- 
er with  motes  and  neps  in  what  would 
otherwise  be  clean  work. 

ECONOMICAL  MIXING  OP  STOCK. 

I  have  seen  cotton  not  over  |  of  an 
Inch  mixed  with  ll-inch  stock,  and 
then  semi-combed  with  a  setting  that 
should  not  take  over  6  per  cent  from 
good  li-inch  cotton.  The  loss  has  been 
over  16  per  cent,  whereas  the  same 
mixing  has  only  cost  i  per  cent  on 
double  carding,  and  the  sliver  from 
the  cards  was  so  nearly  equal  to  the 
combed  that  it  could  not  be  distin- 
guished from  it.  But  if  good  l|-inch 
stock  is  semi-combed,  and  care  taken 
that  nothing  but  bales  with  an  even 
staple  are  put  in  the  mixing,  with  the 
nipper-bars  set  to  an  18-gauge  from 
the  half-laps  and  top  combs  set  to  a 
14-gauge,  you  can  get  a  sliver  from 
l9-cent  cotton  equal  to  28-cent  combed 
peeler.  In  the  former  case,  there  Is 
only  a  loss  in  the  combing  from  ll- 
inch  cotton  of  6  per  cent,  while  from 
the  peeler  you  would  have  to  take 
16  per  cent  to  get  as  clean  and  as  even 
yam.  No.  87. 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTlONb. 


125 


SIZING  WOOLEN  AND 

WORSTED  WARPS. 

The  essential  reasons  for  sizing 
warps  made  of  woolen  and  worsted 
yarns  is  to  give  strength  to  a  soft 
twisted  thread  so  that  it  will  weave 
well,  and  to  prevent  chafing  in  the  loom. 
Cloth  made  from  a  soft  twisted  warp, 
when  the  size  is  washed  out  in  the 
finishing  process,  leaves  the  goods 
with  a  much  softer  and  loftier  feel. 
This  effect  may  be  discounted  if  a  size 
is  used  that  will  require  scouring  by 
a  strong  alkali  solution,  then,  although 
lofty,  the  goods  will  have  a  harsh  feel. 
If  the  sizing  material  is  not  washed 
out  before  the  piece  goes  to  the  dye- 
house,  the  goods  will  probably  show 
streaky  when  taken  from  the  coloring 
kettle. 

INGREDIENTS  USED. 

The  above  indicates  some  of  the 
problems  to  be  met  in  sizing  w^arps 
for  the  loom.  The  ingredients  used  in 
sizing  woolen  warps  are:  glue,  starch 
and  various  gums.  Glue  has  been  used 
very  largely  until  reent  years  and 
is  now  being  very  generally  supplanted 
with  gums.  Glue  has  this  in  its  favor, 
that  it  stays  on  the  yarn,  whereas 
starch  is  impossible  because  of  the 
presence  of  oil  in  the  yarn,  this  in 
woolens  and  Bradford  spun  worsteds 
running  as  high  as  12  per  cent.  The 
usual  starch  formula  calls  for  only 
5  per  cent  softener.  With  the  presence 
of  12  per  cent  softener  in  the  yarn 
the  starch  will  not  stick  to  threads  but 
work  off  in  the  loom  before  fully  serv- 
ing the  purpose  intended. 

Glue  alone  will  not  do  for  worsted 
single  numbers,  it  has  not  the  neces- 
sary body  without  making  the  yarn 
too  stiff  and  brittle.  3.25  per  cent 
glue  solution  (2.6  pounds  to  the  gallon 
of  water)  is  considered  the  limit. 
By  using  starch  in  conjunction  with 
glue  you  will  make  the  necessary  body, 
but  the  solution  will  not  continue  uni- 


form, and  if  used  in  a  slasher  there 
will  be  no  end  of  trouble,  as  it  is  al- 
most impossible  to  prevent  precipita- 
tion. In  machine  dressing  the  trouble 
is  not  of  much  importance,  as  the 
operator  agitates  the  solution  before 
he  fills  his  pail. 

GOOD  FORMULAE. 

The  following  formulae  are  being 
used  in  mills  that  have  excellent 
reputations: 

WOOLEN  SIZE. 


Water,  100  gal.           1  2       3       4  5  6 

Starch,    lbs  20  30      33  6  12 

Tallow,  lbs   2       1  3 

Dextrine,  lbs   7 

Blue  vitrol,  lbs   .17 

Glue,  lbs  28  25  .24  16 


The  following  size  formulae  are  held 
in  favor  by  the  writer,  the  first  three 
for  worsted  and  the  fourth  for  cotton 
yarns,  the  only  difference  in  formulae 
being  in  the  amount  of  water  used: 

Single.      2/32      2/60  Cotton. 


Water,  gal  10  15         17.5  20 

Starch,  lbs   5 

T.  gum,  lbs   5 

Glycerine,    pts  025 

Tragosol,  lbs   2.5 


The  above  standard  formulae  of  in- 
gredients is  diluted  to  suit  the  number. 

As  a  general  rule  yarns  run  through 
a  solution  and  after  passing  through 
press  roll  will  retain  an  equal  weight 
of  solution,  pound  for  pound,  and  when 
dried  will  weigh  plus  the  percentage 
of  ingredients. 

Every  pound  of  size  put  on  yarns  re- 
duces their  set,  (that  is,  increases  the 
diameter  of  yarn)  proportionally. 
Excess  of  sizing  could  make  a  warp 
unweavable.  It  is  recognized  that  the 
ordinary  balance  layout  of  cloth  will 
not  stand  for  more  than  an  8  per  cent 
solution.  This  suggests  the  reason 
for  the  general  adoption  of  gums  in 
sizing.  Some  gums  have  a  value  in 
viscosity  that  is  remarkable.  In  their 
use  they  will  not  increase  the  weight 
more  than  2  or  3  per  cent  in  securing 
weavable  results. 

OPEN  PIPE. 

Some  prefer  this  because  it  distrib- 
utes ingredients  and  keeps  the  solu- 


126 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


tion  in  agitation,  but  in  working  to  a 
formula  the  finished  volume  of  solution 
is  what  you  must  make  to  conform  to 
it.  As  condensation  varies  very  much  it 
is  better  to  make  a  concentrated  solu- 
tion 50  per  cent  short  in  water;  con- 
densation will  make  up  40  per  cent. 
Balance  of  volume  can  be  made  up 
by  diluting  with  water  to  get  the  con- 
sistency, but  the  finished  volume 
should  measure  as  per  formula,  water 
plus  the  ingredients,  pint  per  pound. 

The  variations  of  volume  in  this  case 
are  not  very  great  and  are  caused 
by  evaporation. 

TO  PROVE  SPECIFIC  GRAVITY. 

Take  a  gallon  measure  and  weigh 
to  get  the  weight  of  the  contents. 
Divide  the  weight  of  the  contents  by 
8,  the  quotient  will  be  the  specific  grav- 
ity. This  should  be  done  at  a  temp- 
erature of  60  degrees  Fahrenheit,  but 
it  wo  aid  not  make  any  difference  if  it  is 
only  a  question  of  uniformity,  but  the 
temperature  must  be  in  all  tests 
the  same.  No.  88. 

COMMENTS  AND  COM- 
PARISONS. 


The  most  serious  defect  that  I  know 
of  is  the  destruction  of  the  stock  during 
its  conversion  into  yarns.  I  consider 
the  yarn-making  the  keystone  of  the 
mill.  If  we  make  defective  yarns  we 
must  expect  defective  cloths  either  in 
strength  or  appearance  or  both.  We 
do  not  give  enough  study  or  attention 
to  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  stocks. 
In  order  to  ascertain  the  yarn-giving 
properties  contained  in  the  stock  very 
few  of  us  stop  to  think  that  when  we 
are  handling  wool  we  are  handling 
something  that  contains  life  and 
blood,  and  that  it  is  our  bounden  duty 
to  protect  that  life  and  blood  all  the 
way  through  into  the  cloth,  that  the 
cloth  may  have  the  strong,  bright,  life- 
like appearance  that  we  so  much  like 


to  see  when  it  is  ready  for  the 
market. 

In  this  article  I  do  not  propose  to 
put  any  blame  on  anyone  in  particu- 
lar, neither  do  I  propose  to  exempt 
anyone  in  particular  from  blame.  Let 
us  suppose  a  woolen  manufacturer 
sends  a  lot  of  wool  to  his  cards  to 
be  made  into  yarns.  He  sends  a  ticket 
with  the  lot  that  reads  something  like 
this: 

l.ot  No,  34.    Card  room  No.  2. 
Card  No.  6. 
Runs  4. 
Warp. 

INTRINSIC  VALUE, 
We  will  say  that  the  wool  is  sort  No. 
7,  taken  from  American  fleece.  Does  the 
carder  know  anything  about  the  in- 
trinsic value  of  this  wool?  Has  he  any 
idea  of  the  life  and  blood  contained 
in  this  grade  of  wool?  Does  he  know 
the  spinning  qualities  or  yarn-giving 
properties  of  the  wool?  If  he  has 
never  given  these  things  any  thought 
or  study,  how  is  he  going  to  protect 
the  stock  from  destruction  in  whole  or 
in  part  while  under  his  care? 
Does  the  spinner  know  anything  about 
those  things?  No,  he  does  not 
know.  Then  who  does?  It  is 
necessary  that  some  one  connected 
with  this  mill  should  know.  In  order 
to  get  the  proper  and  best  results  from 
the  stock  in  use,  let  us  suppose  this 
grade  of  wool  to  be  worth  60  cents  per 
pound  when  sent  to  the  card, 
40  cents  per  pound  when  it  leaves 
the  card,  and  30  cents  per  pound 
when  it  leaves  the  spinning  room. 
Now  what  have  we  done?  We  have 
reduced  60-cent  wool  to  30-cent  shoddy. 
PROPER  TREATMENT. 
How,  then,  can  we  expect  the 
cloth  to  have  the  strong,  bright,  life- 
like appearance  that  it  would  have  had 
the  stock  received  proper  treatment, 
or  the  treatment  that  the  nature  of  the 
stock  demands?  Let  us  look  at  this 
thing  in  another  way:  Suppose  we 
take  out  30  per  cent  of  this  wool  and 
add  30  per  cent  of  a  substitute  cot- 
ton or  shoddy.    If  we  did  not  get  the 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


127 


yarns  that  the  pure  wool  was  amply 
able  to  give  us,  what  is  going  to  be 
the  result  when  we  have  added  30 
per  cent  of  something  that  contains 
half  or  less  than  half  the  spinning 
qualities  of  the  pure  wool?  No.  7  wool 
from  American  fleece  under  proper 
treatment  will  miake  good  sound  and 
perfect  four-run  yarn  in  any  part  oi 
the  world.  Let  us  try  things  in  an- 
other way:  Suppose  this  same  grade 
of  wool  is  sent  to  the  cards  in  some 
other  mill  to  make  four-run  yarn.  This 
mill  also  sends  a  ticket  with  the  lots. 
Let  us  see  how  this  ticket  reads: 

Lot.  No.  34.    Card  room  No.  2. 
Card  No.  6. 

Roping  per  oz.,  222  yards. 

Runs  4. 

Warp. 

Here  we  have  a  change.    The  man 
that  put  this  ticket  out  knows  some- 
thing about  the  intrinsic  value  of  the 
stock,  and  if  he  has  any  say  over  the 
carding  and  spinning  he  will  see  that 
the  stock  receives  proper  treatment  in 
its  conversion  from  wool  into  yarn. 
After  it  passes  the  yarn-making  stage 
there  is  not  much  danger  ahead.   I  do 
not  know  of  anything  more  serious 
confronting  the  American  woolen  man- 
ufacturer than    this    destruction  or 
part  destruction  of  the  wool-fibre  dur- 
ing  its  conversion  into  yarns.   This  de^ 
struction  can  take  place  on  the  card- 
ing machine  or  the  spinning  machine 
or    both.      I    know     of    but  one 
woolen  mill  in  this  country  where  the 
stock  receives  any  consideration  in 
this  respect,  and  it  is  a  very  large 
plant — a  monument  of  success. 
FINENESS  OP  ROPING. 
It  is  very  important  that  some  on<5 
connected  with  a  woolen  mill  should 
know  the  proper  fineness  of  roping  to 
be  taken  from  the  stock  in  use  in  or- 
der to  get  the  best  results  that  the 
stock  will  give  into  the  yarn  and  the 
cloth.    The  foreign  wool  manufactur- 
ers are  far  more  particular  and  give 
more  attention  to  the  care  and  han- 
dling of  the  stock  than  we  do,  and 
their  help  is  not  so  much  better  skilled 


as  many  people  think.    Let  us  take  a 
trip  over  to  some  of   these  foreign 
countries  and  see  if  we  can  find  out 
anything.    Let  us  take  the  city  of 
Leeds,  in  England,  where  they  use  so 
much  mungo  or  low  stocks.  Suppose 
we  pop  into  one  of  these  low-stock 
card  rooms  with,  we  will  say,  12  or 
15  sets  of  cards.    The  first  thing  we 
may  notice  is  that  besides  the  young 
men  and  women    tending    to  these 
cards  there  may  be  three,  four  or  five 
first-class  boss  carders  in  charge  of 
this  room.     Our  first  impression  of 
this  might  be    that    there   was  no 
need  of  so   many   boss    carders  in 
this  room.    We  might  say  we  could 
get  one  boss  carder  or  second  hantl 
carder  with  the  regular  tenders  to  take 
care  of  this  card  room  in  America.  I 
have  no  doubt  we  could,  but  I  have  my 
doubts  about  one  boss  carder  and  a 
second    carder    taking    care  of  the 
stock.    The  stock  on  these  cards  may 
be  all-wool  fibre,  mungo  or  shoddy, 
worth   anywhere   between   10   or  20 
cents  per  pound,  American  stock  val- 
ues of  to-day.    These  men  may  be 
taking  2  or  21  run  yarn  out  of  this 
stock  and  making  good  yarn,  therefore 
getting  good  cloth.    The  next  thing 
that  we  may  notice  in  this  English 
card  room  is  that  some  of  the  cards,  or 
perhaps  all  of  them,  are  running  with 
six,  eight  or  ten  workers  to  a  three- 
cylinder   set.     Our   first  impression 
here  might  be  that  those  men  coul^ 
not  be  doing  very  good  carding  with 
so  few  workers  to  three  cylinders,  but 
if  we  happen  to  know  anything  about 
the  nature  of  wool  fibre  we  will  see 
at  once  that  the  missing  workers  have 
been  taken  off  in  order  to  prevent  as 
much  as  possible  any  injury  to  the  in- 
trinsic value  of  the  stock,  so  as  to  have 
all  the  strength  in  the  yarn  that  the 
stock  will  give.  Still  we  may  not  be 
sure  that  that  is  the  object  of  the  work- 
ers being  taken  off  the  cards.  Suppose 
we  ask  the  men  in  charge.    This  is 
where  we  are  going  to  learn  some- 
thing about  the  skill  of  the  foreign 
woolen  mill  operative.    The  answer 


12S 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS 


AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


that  those  men  will  give  to  our  ques- 
tion I  know  will  be:  *'l  dunno.  it's  the 
way  maister  ordered  it  done,  or 
the  way  manager  ordered  it  done". 
And  these  men  are  telling  the  truth; 
they  know  no  more  about  the  intrinsic 
value  or  the  face  value  of  the  stock 
than  common  card  tenders.  None  of 
them  may  ever  have  seen  a  handful 
of  pure  wool  in  their  lifetime.  Well, 
let  us  look  at  the  ticket  of  this  stock. 
The  ticket  may  read  as  follows: 

Lot  No.  20.    Card  room  No,  4. 
Cards  2.  3.  4  and  6. 
Roping-  per  oz.,  170  yards. 
Spun  yarn,  200  per  oz. 
Quality,  ACX. 

The  quality  mark  ACX  on  this  tick- 
et may  give  the  carders  their  cue  to 
handling  this  stock,  or  it  may 
mean  to  them  eight  workers 
to  three  cylinders  set  to  a  certain 
thickness  of  gauge.  None  of  theso 
carders  may  have  known  anything 
about  the  meaning  of  this  ticket  be 
fore  they  went  into  this  room  to  work. 
The  ticket  would  be  explained  to  them 
by  somie  one  working  in  the  room  just 
as  it  had  been  explained  to  the  latter — 
or  the  owner  or  manager  might  explain 
it  to  a  new  man;  but  the  mill  owner 
and  manager  may  not  know  exactly 
why  that  stock  has  got  to  be  handled 
in  that  way,  although  they  may  know 
more  about  the  intrinsic  value  of  the 
fibre  than  the  carders  know.  If  we 
ask  them  about  it  they  may  tell  us 
that  they  found  that  kind  of  stock 
filed  or  scheduled  on  the  books  to  be 
handled  in  that  way,  and  that  it  had 
always  given  satisfactory  results. 
Some  one  preceding  them  may  have 
found  this  way  to  give  the  best  results 
and  put  it  on  the  books  to  be  done  in 
the  same  way,  and  that  may  be  all  the 
enlightment  thay  can  give  us. 

TICKETS. 

Let  us  try  a  card  room  in  some  other 
mill,  or  in  this  same  mill.  Suppose  we 
look  .into  No.  1  card  room  in  this  same 
mill.  In  this  card  room  we  may  find 
all  wool.  Now  let  us  look  up  the 
ticket  of  the  all-wool  stock.    We  find 


that  this  ticket  reads  just  exactly  the 
same  as  the.  ticket  in  the  other  room, 
but  the  ticket  in  this  all-wool  card 
room,  although  reading  just  the  same, 
may  mean  something  far  different 
from  the  other  ticket.  It  may  mean 
in  this  all-wool  room  all  the  workers 
the  cylinders  can  carry.  And  so  it  is 
all  over  those  foreign  countries.  The 
manufacturers  have  some  means, 
marks  or  methods  to  guide  the  help 
in  handling  the  stock,  probably  no  two 
mills  having  the  same  marks  or  meth- 
ods, thus  preventing  the  help  from 
leaving  one  mill  and  going  to  another 
and  bringing  the  ways  and  means 
his  former  employer  had  of  doing 
things.  He  may  go  to  another  mill, 
handle  the  same  stock  under  different 
ticket  marks  and  not  know  that  he  is 
doing  it.  Let  me  here  again  try  to 
impress  upon  the  American  woolen 
manufacturer  the  importance  of  know- 
ing accurately,  or  as  nearly  as  possible, 
the  exact  fineness  of  roping  to  take 
from  the  stock  in  use  in  order  to  get 
the  best  results  in  the  yarns  and  cloths. 
There  are  many  mills  in  England, 
Scotland  and  Germany  where  they 
have  a  standard  number  of  yards  of 
roping  for  everything.  In  those  places, 
when  finer  yarns  are  required  than 
can  be  obtained  from  the  card-roping 
without  risking  injury  to  the  fibre, 
they  turn  to  drawing  once,  twice  or 
three  times  if  necessary,  in  order  to  get 
the  yarns  perfect  and  the  fineness  re- 
quired. 

DRAWING  STOCK. 
This  would  be  called  second, 
third  and  fourth  spinning  in  this  coun- 
try, but  there  is  no  second  or  fourth 
spinning  to  it.  It  is  simply  drawing 
the  stock  out  and  preparing  it  for  the 
finished  thread.  This  is  a  very  profit- 
able way  of  making  woolen  yarns,  if 
we  know  something  about  the  stock 
and  how  to  direct  the  process.  The 
greatest  trouble  in  making  woolen 
yarns  in  this  way  is  in  not  knowing 
how  to  prepare  the  first  drawing  for  the 
second,  and  the  second  for  the  third. 
If  so  many  drawings  are  necessary  in 


r^XTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


12^ 


order  to  get  the  fineness  of  yarns  re- 
quired, it  commands  good  judgment  of 
stocks  and  some  experience  in  draw- 
ing same  on  a  woolen  spinning  ma- 
chine to  make  yarns  successfully.  In 
this  way  the  more  yards  of  yarn  we  try 
to  take  from  a  pound  of  stock  the  mor© 
chance  there  is  to  destroy  the  stock, 
unless  we  are  careful  and  use  good 
judgment.    1  do  not  mean  or  claim 
that  every  fibre  of  the  stock  can  be 
protected.    This  article  is  dealing  only 
with  the  uncalled  for  destruction  that 
so  very  much  wool  stock  receives  in 
the  processes  of   carding  and  spin- 
ning through  the  want    of  thought, 
carelessness,  ignorance  of  the  nature 
of  the  stock,  or  some  other  cause  or 
causes.    The  more  thought  and  con- 
sideration we  give  to  the  stock  and 
the  more  we  respect  and  care  for  the 
intrinsic    value    of    it,    the  better 
results  we  will  have  in  the  cloths. 
Not  only  that,  but  by  so  doing  it  will 
point  out  a  way  to  us  of  obtaining  th«* 
desired  results  in  the  cloth  from  a 
cheaper  grade  of  stock.   The  more  we 
can  protect  the  stock  the  more  lee- 
way the  stock  will  give  us.   I  know  of 
no     rule     to     guide     us     in  these 
things,    for   they    cannot    be  learn- 
ed in  any  school  only  the  school  of 
handling  and  persistent  study  of  the 
stock.  I  will  now  give  a  list  of  Amer- 
ican wools  and  the  counts  or  runs  of 
woolen  yarns  that  each  sort  will  give: 

Sorts.  Runs. 

2  12 

3  10 

4  8 

5  6 

6  5 

7  4 

8  3 

9  2 

Thus,  spinning  from  the  card  roping 
will  make  good,  sound,  perfect  yarns 
under  proper  treatment.  If  we  want 
to  get  finer  yarns  out  of  any  one  of 
these  sorts,  from  my  experience  I  con- 
sider drawing  and  spinning  the  best 
and  safest  way  to  get  it.  I  kn^pw  some 
might  say,  "Well,  I  will  take  60  per 
cent  of  No.  7  sort  and  40  per  cent  of 
No.  3  sort,  put  them  together,  and  that 


ought  to  give  me  good  6-run  yarn,  ac- 
cording to  the  price  of  the  stock.  It 
ought  to  give  good  6-run  yarn,  but  it 
does  not  stand  to  any  kind  of  reasoning 
that  those  two  sorts  can  go  through 
the  process  of  carding  and  spinning 
without  serious  injury  to  either  one  or 
both ;  and  if  this  is  so  what  will  be  the 
result?  If  we  were  going  to  make  wors- 
ted yarn  out  of  these  two  sorts  we  would 
simply  comb  all  the  No.  3  sort  out,  and 
have  the  No.  7  sort  to  make  the  worst- 
ed thread,  and  I  am  sure  that  it  would 
be  much  better  for  the  woolen  manu- 
facturer to  draw  his  No.  7  sort  and 
get  his  6-run.  In  that  way  he  would 
get  better  results  in  every  way;  that 
is,  providing  he  knew  something  about 
making  woolen  yarns  by  the  process 
of  drawing  and  spinning. 

As  I  have  already  stated,  the  yarn 
maker  of  a  woolen  mill  is  the  key- 
stone of  the  mill.  If  we  get  the  yarns 
that  the  stocks  are  amply  able  and 
willing  to  give  us,  and  if  we  treat  them 
properly,  we  are  in  a  fair  way  of  do- 
ing well.  As  I  have  said,  I  know  of 
no  rule  to  guide  us  only  the  handling 
of  the  stocks  and  the  persistent  study 
of  the  stock  and  the  many  different 
ways  that  it  can  receive  injury  while 
under  our  care,  especially  while  under 
the  process  of  carding  and  spinning. 

No.  89. 


VARIOUS  SUGGESTIONS. 


Some  overseers  neglect  looking  after 
belts  and  other  dangerous  things  whicli 
will  cause  accidents,  which  should  be 
the  first  things  looked  after.  See 
that  everything  is  in  first-class  order 
before  starting  up  a  machine.  The 
next  thing  comes  management  of  help. 
Some  overseers  believe  in  crowding  be- 
yond the  limit.  They  push,  push,  all 
the  time.  That  is  all  right  so  long  as 
you  do  not  go  beyond  the  limit.  There 
is  a  limit  to  all  things.  They  say  push, 
and  keep  right  after  them,  good  or  bad. 
That  is  not  right.   If  you  have  a  good 


130  TEXTILE  DEFECTS 

hand,  he  cannot  be  pushed  because  you 
will  make  him,  or  her,  which  ever  it  is, 
discouraged,  and  that  hand  will  not 
try  to  do  as  well  if  you  keep  it  up. 
It  is  just  the  same  with  the  speed  of  a 
machine.  If  you  go  beyond  the  limit 
you  lose  production.  The  writer  was 
running  a  pair  of  jacquards  at  one 
time,  and  one  of  them  was  running 
badly.  The  weavers  in  the  room  would 
not  run  that  pair  of  looms  because  they 
could  not  do  anything  with  that  loom. 
The  loom  would  jump  up  and  shake 
and  rattle,  the  headles  would  jump  and 
aance  and  get  tangled  with  each  other 
and  take  out  a  whole  warp  before  the 
w^eaver  would  notice  anything  wrong 
about  it. 

When  I  went  on  the  looms, 
I  asked  the  boss  if  it  could  not  be 
fixed,  and  he  said  it  was  because  the 
floor  was  weak.  I  took  occasion  to 
look  one  day  and  found  the  floor  just 
the  same  as  under  the  others.  I  thought 
I  would  try  a  new  way,  so  I  shipped  the 
belt  half-way  on  the  loose  pulley.  This 
made  the  loom  run  more  slowly,  so  1 
got  more  production,  and  consequently, 
more  pay,  as  they  paid  by  the  pound. 
But  the  overseer  spied  it  one  day  and 
asked  me  why  I  had  it  that  way,  and  I 
told  him  that  it  ran  better  and  I  got 
more  pay.  He  said  the  reason  I  got 
more  pay  was  because  I  was  more  ex- 
perienced on  those  looms,  and  ordered 
me  to  keep  the  belt  on  the  tight  pulley. 
I  obeyed  orders,  and  the  next  week  I 
fell  short  about  $2  in  pay.  I  went  to 
the  superintendent  with  my  pay  and 
told  him  the  story  just  as  it  was,  and 
he  agreed  with  the  overseer.  Of  course, 
1  do  not  blame  him  for  upholding  his 
bosses,  but  he  could  look  into  the  run- 
ning of  that  loom  for  his  own  interest, 
if  nothing  else.  But  anyway  I  worked 
a  while  and  did  not  see  that  he  intend- 
ed to  change  the  speed,  so  gave  notice 
and  left.  They  had  not  changed  the 
speed  the  last  I  heard,  which  was  about 
two  years  after  I  severed  my  connec- 
tion. 

Be  good  to  help,  and  have  their 
good  will  and  they  will  do  a  great  deal 
more  for  you.    Be  honest  with  them 


AND  SUGGESTIONS. 

and  see  that  they  get  their  rights.  At 
the  same  time  see  that  they  give  the 
company  their  rights.  Be  strict  and 
straightforward  in  manner  and  have 
respect  for  both  company  and  help. 
I  saw  an  overseer  take  charge  of  a 
room  at  one  time  and  when  he  came 
there  they  said  he  was  a  high-priced 
man,  that  he  could  not  be  beaten. 
Well,  he  commenced  his  pushing  and 
crowding  at  once,  and  kept  it  up.  The 
help  hustled  and  almost  worked  be- 
yond endurance  to  satisfy  him.  But  it 
was  just  the  same,  "Hurry  up,  there", 
and  the  help  got  discouraged  and  in 
three  months'  time  the  boss  was  help- 
less. He  could  not  do  anything  with 
them  and  the  second  hand  had  to  keep 
things  straight.  He  could  get  more 
work  out  of  them  in  one  day  than  the 
boss  could  in  a  week. 

BUNCHES  IN  YARN 

are  caused  in  several  different  ways — 
from  slubber,  intermediates  or  fine  jack 
frames  or  in  the  spinning  room.  A  great 
many  bunches  come  from  steel  rolls 
in  all  processes.    They  are  allowed  to 
accumulate  lint,  which  rolls  around 
betw^een  the  flutes  in  the  rolls.  This 
can  be  avoided  by  wiping  the  rolls  off 
every  time  they  wipe  the  roll  beam. 
This  will  keep  them  clean.   Top  clear- 
ers  should  be  kept  picked  often,  and  not 
allow  enough  waste  to  gather  on  them 
so  that  the  top  rolls  will  lick  it  oft. 
The  bunches  can  come  from  wiping  the 
roll  beam,  also,  if  the  attendant  is  not 
careful,  by  letting  fly  waste  blow  from 
the  creel,  or  by  flyers  not  being  picked. 
These  should  be  picked  often.  The 
under  clearers  on  slubbers  should  be 
picked  every  hour,  because  the  flutes 
will  draw  the  waste  from  them  some- 
times in  less  time  than  that.   Also  the 
under    clearers   on   spinning  frames 
often  give  trouble,  for  when  the  at- 
tendant is  taking  them  out  to  clean 
them  off,  he  is  apt  to  become  careless 
and  not  pick  up  ends  and  draw  under 
clearers  out,  rubbing  each  end,  thus 
causing  a  bunch  on  one  or  more  of 
them  which  will  cause  trouble  in  the 
warp. 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


131 


Naturally,  the  boss  spinner  will 
be  looked  after  for  this  more  than  the 
carder,  because  he  has  younger  and 
smaller  help,  but  the  carder  ought  not 
to  take  advantage  of  this  and  let  any- 
thing go  wrong.  The  boss  carder  and 
spinner  ought  to  work  together,  and  if 
they  try  they  can  stop  this  bad  defect. 
Another  bad  defect  is  the  back  rolls 
being  stopped  while  frame  is  running. 
This  causes  cut  yarn.  If  the  back 
saddles  are  worn  it  will  cause  cut  yarn 
sometimes,  and  also  top  rolls  expand- 
ing at  ends,  causing  friction  on  cap 
bars.  Front  top  roll  should  be  in  per- 
fect running  order  all  the  time.  If 
not,  it  will  not  produce  perfect  yarn. 
They  should  be  clean  and  well-oiled. 
Spinners  should  be  trained  to  break 
their  ends  off  short  when  piecing 
ends  up.  This  is  the  secret  of  piecing 
up  ends;  not  so  much  the  way  they 
piece,  but  making  good,  short  and 
clean  piecing.  If  they  break  the  ena 
as  close  as  they  can,  they  will  make 
good  piecing. 

DON'TS. 

Don't  allow  oil  on  the  rings;  don't 
allow  the  spinners  to  blow  off  the 
frames,  as  that  will  cause  bunches  in 
yarn;  don't  allow  them  to  wait  too 
long  before  they  run  off  their  wire 
board,  give  them  a  proper  time  to  do  it 
and  see  that  they  do  it  at  that  time; 
don't  let  them  run  over  on  picking  top 
clearers;  don't  let  them  run  over  on 
any  of  their  cleaning  or  oiling;  don't 
let  the  band  hand  neglect  keeping  his 
bands  on  and  see  that  he  keeps  them 
tight,  so  that  they  will  not  make  slacli 
yarn.  I  heard  an  overseer  say  that  it 
made  him  smile  to  see  a  second  hand 
hurry  to  fix  a  broken-down  frame  to 
get  it  started  when  there  were  enough 
dead  spindles  to  amount  to  two  oi 
three  frames.  Now,  just  stop  and 
think;  two  or  three  frames,  why,  if 
his  frames  had  208  spindles,  3  by  20S 
equals  624  spindles  idle;  it  would  take 
a  second  hand,  doing  nothing* else,  two 
days  to  start  that  amount  of  spindles. 
But  it  cannot  be  as  much  as  that;  it 
could  not  be  any  more  than  50  or  60, 


at  the  most  and  it  would  take  about  an 
hour  to  get  them  running  and  his 
broken-down  frame  would  have  to  wait 
all  of  that  time  with  208  spindles 
stopped.  If  he  fixed  the  frame  at  first, 
it  would  not  have  taken  more  than 
fifteen  minutes  at  the  most,  and  those 
208  spindles  would  be  going  while  he 
was  working  on  the  dead  spindles. 
Just  that  frame  would  get  three-quart- 
ers of  an  hour  run  better  than  the 
other  way. 

Little  things  should  be  look- 
ed after,  but  do  not  pass  by  big 
things  to  do  it.  If  you  had  a  room 
with,  we  will  say,  all  of  your  rolls 
speeded  122,  figure  what  one  frame 
would  lose  in  one  hour  and  then  fig- 
ure for  the  50  or  60  spindles.  It  would 
be  over  two-thirds  more  loss  by  let- 
ting the  frame  stop,  because  the  60 
spindles  would  not  all  be  stopped  all 
of  that  time.  Some  overseers  delight 
in  pulling  out  t1^ist.  I  don't  believe 
in  that  because  when  a  man  buys  yarn, 
he  wants  the  standard  twist  unless 
otherwise  stipulated  and  if  you  make 
good  yarn  and  with  the  standard  twist, 
or  as  required  and  otherwise  or- 
dered, your  company  will  soon  get  the 
name  of  making  good  yarn  and  then 
will  be  overflowed  with  orders.  T  know 
a  mill  that  makes  that  kind  and  is 
never  idle.  Does  that  tell  the  story? 
No  doubt  there  are  a  great  many  mills 
doing  the  same  thing.  You  cannot 
make  perfect  yarn  by  making  it  im- 
properly. Of  course  there  is  perfect 
yarn  not  of  the  standard  twist,  but 
it  is  not  proper  unless  ordered  that 
way.  If  a  firm  buys  yarn  for  stand- 
ard twist,  they  ought  to  get  just  what 
they  order. 

CHANGES. 
Some  mills  require  the  spinner  to  do 
all  of  the  changing  to  keep  the  num- 
bers right  and  let  the  carder  make  any 
old  number.  This  is  not  right  and  is 
not  carried  on  in  any  well  regulated 
mill;  but  if  the  number  gets  away 
from  the  carder  it  is  the  spinner's  duty 
to  catch  it  and  make  it  right.  Cotton 
started  right  from  the  picker  and  kept 


132 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS 


going  right  through  each  process  will 
make  perfect  yarn,  but  if  it  is  not 
started  right,  you  cannot  expect  to 
make  it  perfect.  I  don't  mean  to  say 
that  if  the  number  is  not  right  in  the 
carding  room  the  spinner  cannot  make 
the  yarn  so  that  the  warps  will  weigh 
right,  but  this  is  what  I  mean:  work 
started  uneven  from  the  picker  will 
run  uneven  through  all  processes  and 
make  a  bad  showing  in  the  cloth  as 
the  yarn  diameters  will  differ,  because, 
while  the  spinner  is  keeping  the  num- 
ber, there  are  different  sizes  of  yarn 
being  spun  on  the  same  side  some- 
tim.es  varying  from  2  to  2i  numbers. 
Such  unevenness  will  be  seen  very 
quickly  in  cloth.  You  could  not  call 
that  perfect  yarn. 

You  have  gpt  to  have  perfect  cotton, 
perfect  machines  and  a  perfect  way 
of  running  the  machines  to  make  per- 
fect yarn.  Frames  should  not  have 
too  much  draft;  the  shorter  the  draft 
the  stronger  the  yarn.  Make  a  26  out 
of  3  hank  roving  single  and  break  it, 
and  then  double  a  6  hank  and  see  how 
much  stronger  your  yarn  will  be.  A 
spinner  cannot  tell  in  print  what  is 
good  for  a  spinning  room  unless  he 
has  seen  the  room,  because  there  are 
not  any  two  rooms  in  the  country 
that  can  be  managed  alike.  There  will 
have  to  be  a  difference  in  cleaning  or 
oiling  or  different  arrangements  in 
other  particulars.  Mills  running 
coarse  yarns  will  have  to  clean  oftener. 
In  some  of  these  mills  where  coarse 
yarns  are  being  spun  they  clean  creels 
four  times  a  day,  while  in  finer  rooms, 
they  do  not  clean  them  oftener  than 
once  a  week.  The  same  rule  holds 
with  the  rest  of  the  cleaning,  viz:  a 
great  deal  oftener  on  coarse  work  than 
on  finer  work.  The  point  is  to  keep 
machines  clean  and  well  oiled  on  any 
number. 

Bands  should  not  be  too  tight 
as  it  will  cause  loss  of  power,  and  not 
too  loose,  as  it  will  cause  slack  yarn. 
Give  it  the  right  tension.  Thread  board 
guides  should  not  be  allowed  to  become 
worn,  as  the  end    drawing  through 


them  would  chafe  and  be  weakened  in 
places.  Separators  should  not  be  al- 
lowed to  slide  about  so  as  to  rub  on 
travellers.  Where  rail  is  up  at 
top,  have  ring  rail  perfectly  level  or 
there  will  be  a  bind  on  the  change 
as  rods  will  stick  in  the  brushing 
by  being  cramped  because  of  one  end 
of  the  ring  rail  being  too  high  or  too 
low.  Spindles  should  be  set 
at  top  and  bottom,  and  rings 
kept  in  good  order  and  witlg  traveller 
running  smoothly.  The  traveller 
should  not  be  too  heavy  or  too  light. 
That  is  something  that  will  have  to  be 
regulated  by  the  tension  and  strength 
of  yarn.  By  making  your  yarn  strong- 
er, you  can  use  a  great  deal  heavier 
traveller  which  will  give  more  pro- 
duction. A  frame  on  26  with  double 
roving  six  hank  will  run  one-half  hour 
longer  with  No.  1  traveller,  than  a 
frame  of  26  single  roving  with  3-0  trav- 
eller and  run  a  lot  better,  consequent- 
ly, giving  more  production,  it  will 
also  stop  a  great  deal  of  trouble  with 
fly  waste  as  the  yarn  does  not  balloon 
so  much. 

SPOOLER  GUIDES. 

Spooler  guides  closed  up  are  a  nui- 
sance to  the  yarn  and  the  attendant 
also.  They  never  were  made  to  card 
cotton  and  when  closed  to  make  them 
do  it,  will  chafe  the  yarn  and  make 
weak  places  and  cause  the  spinner 
to  look  for  the  trouble  elsewhere  un- 
less he  is  aware  of  the  cause.  Fur- 
thermore, the  attendant  cannot  run 
as  many  sides,  and  in  that  case  the 
spinner  has  to  have  more  hands,  bring- 
ing his  coists  up.  If  the  carding  pro- 
cess is  done  on  the  cards  in  the 
proper  place,  the  spinner  will  have 
more  of  a  chance.  The  carder  ought 
to  send  his  work  to  the  spinner  as 
clean  and  as  well  carded  as  possible. 
The  carder  and  spinner  ought  to  work 
together,  for  no  mill  ever  was  well 
run  where  the  carder  and  spinner  were 
pulling  away  from  each  other.  They 
must  help  each  other  and  work  to- 
gether because  work  made  bad  in  one 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


133 


process  can  never  be  made  right  in 
an  after-process. 

In  carding  rolls  on  spinning  frames 
v^-lien  scouring,  use  new  card  clothing 
o'*  clothing  which  has  never  been 
ground,  as  after  being  ground,  it  will, 
with  its  needle  edges,  scratch  flutes  of 
steel  roll,  causing  wind-ups  and  spoil 
top  rolls.  It  will  also  be  apt  to  cause 
you  some  trouble  to  pumice  stone 
scratches  down  to  as  good  condition 
as  was  the  original  roll.  This  also  ap- 
plies to  belting;  never  put  sharp  cards 
on  belts. 

PRODUCTION. 

In  figuring  production,  it  is  well  to 
figure  what  a  frame  ought  to  take 
off  and  it  is  better  to  know  what  a 
room  of  frames  takes  off.  Keep  run  of 
your  doffs  and  multiply  them  by  the 
number  of  pounds  of  yarn  on  a  frame 
of  bobbins  and  by  the  number  of 
frames  on  that  number  of  yarn.  For 
example,  suppose  you  had  30  frames 
in  a  room  on  40s,  and  a  frame  of  yarn 
would  weigh  25  pounds  and  you  took 
off  eight  doffs  during  a  week;  30 
times  25  equals  750  times  8  equals 
6,000  pounds  per  week.  It  is  very 
simple,  but  a  very  sure  way. 
In  figuring  production  from  speed  of 
front  roll  an  allowance  is  made  for 
stoppage.  Very  often  they  do  not  make 
the  proper  allowance,  as  coarser  yarn 
takes  a  larger  allowance.  If  you  have 
a  room  of  100  frames  with  counts 
ranging  from  5s  to  80s,  it  will  be  a 
hard  task  to  keep  the  doffers  going 
so  as  not  to  have  more  than  one  frame 
stopped  at  once;  therefore,  the  coarse 
frame  will  have  to  suffer  the  most 
loss  of  stoppage,  but  if  your  room  is 
all  finer  than  20s  or  30s  you  can  be 
safe  in  your  allowance.  I  find  in  mak- 
ing allowances  in  this  way,  you  have 
to  make  a  greater  allowance  than 
most  mills  figure  on  coarse  yarn  and 
not  quite  as  much  on  fine  yarns.  A 
great  many  men  allow  10  per  cent  on 
all  numbers.  This  is  a  mistake.  I 
find  that  15  per  cent  is  none  too  much 
for  No.  5s  yarn,  while  on  80s,  three 
per  cent  is  plenty  enough.   The  length 


of  the  traverse  should  be  less  for  fine 
yarn  than  for  coarse  yarn.  Five  and 
one-half  inches  is  about  the  average, 
seven  inches  being  the  maximum 
traverse  and  four  and  one-half  inches 
the  minimum. 

There  cannot  be  too  much 
care  taken  in  releveling  frames,  tor 
if  they  are  out  of  level  they  cause 
loss  of  power  and  will  cause  the  lift- 
ing rods  to  stick  and  stop  the  ring 
rail,  causing  bunches  on  the  bobbin, 
which  will  tangle  and  lose  yarn. 
The  building  motion  should  be  in  per- 
fect running  order,  building  a  perfect 
bobbin;  not  too  blunt  or  too  much  tap- 
ered, about  as  much  at  top  as  at  bot- 
tom. Always  look  after  quality  as  well 
as  quantity.  It  will  be  better  for  you, 
your  room  and  the  company.  No.  90. 


OILS  AFFECT  DYES. 


From  time  to  time  the  dyer  of 
worsted  yarn  in  the  skein  is  caused 
no  end  of  trouble  by  the  yarn  showing 
difference  in  shade  after  dyeing, 
especially  in  light  shade  dyes.  This 
gives  reasonable  opportunity  for  com- 
plaint and  sometimes  claims  against 
the  manufacturer  of  the  yarn. 

The  manufacturer  of  the  yarn  is 
nearly  always  at  a  loss  to  account 
for  this  difference  in  shade  after  dye- 
ing and  often  thinks  it  is  the  fault  of 
the  dyer. 

The  manufacturer  of  the  yarn  will 
find,  if  he  uses  an  animal  oil,  such  as 
neats  foot  for  lubricating,  in  place  of 
the  many  different  mineral  oils,  that  hy 
will  have  no  further  trouble  on  this 
account.  In  other  words,  the  mineral 
oil,  which  is  very  apt  to  touch  the 
stock  at  different  operations,  will 
not  entirely  scour  out  before  dyeing 
and  consequently  the  mineral  oil  re- 
sists the  dye  showing  the  difference 
in  shade.  The  animal  oil  will  scorn- 
out  entirely  so  that  the  dye  will  take 
evenly.  No.  91, 


134 


TEXTILE 


DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


FINISHING  WOOLEN  GOODS 


After  the  goods  have  been  burled  and 
sewed,  we  put  them  in  the  washer  ana 
scour  them  before  fulling,  so  as  to  re- 
move the  surplus  dirt  and  foreign  mat- 
ter and  prevent  as  far  as  possible 
having  the  same  fulled  into  the  goods, 
which  has  a  tendency  to  leave  the  col- 
ors dingy  and  robs  the  goods  of  their 
brightness  and  clean  appearance.  Now 
right  here  is  where  a  great  many  are 
apt  to  make  a  serious  mistake.  In  the 
process  of  scouring  they  neglect  to 
give  attention  to  the  temperature  ot 
the  water,  and  as  a  result,  they  start 
the  surplus  dye  on  the  various  colors, 
and  stain  the  white  yarn  and  brighter 
colors  in  the  goods.  When  the  finish- 
er's attention  is  callec!  to  this  he  in- 
variably puts  the  blame  on  the  dyei, 
and  if  there  is  shoddy  used  in  the  goods, 
the  party  that  supplied  the  shoddy 
comes  in  for  his  share. 

FULLING. 
The  next  process  is  the  fulling  of 
the  goods.  After  'the  goods  are  pre- 
pared for  the  fulling  mills,  they 
are  run  in  the  mills^  and  as  they  are 
in  motion  the  finisher  has  them  soap- 
ed according  to  his  idea  of  this  very 
important  part  of  the  work.  Now, 
if  the  goods  are  not  evenly  soaped, 
there  is  more  trouble,  which  will  ap- 
pear in  the  width  of  the  finishea 
goods,  as  they  will  have  a  tendency 
to  vary  from  one  to  two  or  three 
inches,  and  may  have  indefinite  spots 
on  them  which  will  appear  brighter 
than  the  other  parts  of  the  cloth.  The 
above  defects  are  caused  by  the  ir- 
regularity of  the  soap  on  the  goods 
w^hile  in  the  process  of  fulling.  To 
overcome  this,  the  soap  shou.d  be  fed 
onto  the  goods  regularly  and  without 
any  intermission,  until  the  full  quantity 
of  soap  has  been  applied.  After  the 
goods  have  run  about  thirty  minutes 
they  should  be  examined,  and  spread 
put  so  as  to  straighten  them  and  pre- 


vent the  tendency  to  twist.  After  the 
goods  have  run  half  the  time  that  is 
necessary  for  them  to  run  in  the  full- 
ing mill  they  should  be  removed, 
straightened  out  and  reversed  end 
for  end.  This  will  help  the  goods 
to  full  more  evenly  and  eliminate  full- 
ing mill  streaks  or  wrinkles. 

SCOURING. 

When  the  goods  have  felted  up  to 
the  width  and  the  number  of  inches 
in  length,  which  is  indicated  by  strings 
which  the  finisher  has  attached  to  the 
piece  of  goods,  they  are  taken  to  the 
washer  again  and  thoroughly  scoured. 
Care  must  be  taken  here  regarding 
the  temperature  of  the  water,  as  only 
warm  water  is  reauired  to  start  the 
soap  in  the  goods.  When  the  goods 
have  run  from  twenty  to  thirty  min- 
utes, according  to  the  amount  of  dirt 
in  them,  the  gates  of  the  washer  should 
be  opened  and  the  warm  water  turned 
on  again  to  wash  off  the  dirty  matter. 
Close  the  gates  and  allow  the  goods 
to  lather  up  again  with  the  warm 
water.  Repeat  this  until  the  goods 
are  thoroughly  clean.  Never  allow  the 
goods  to  run  too  long  in  dirty,  soapy 
water.  When  the  finisher  considers  he 
has  got  the  soap  all  out  of  the  goods 
and  has  got  them  thoroughly  clean, 
he  should  dissolve  a  pailful  of  Wyan- 
dotte soda  in  a  small  barrel  half  full 
of  water,  and  then  dump  the  same 
into  the  washer.  Let  the  goods  run  in 
this  water  for  twenty  minutes.  This 
will  remove  all  trace  of  soap.  Turn 
on  the  warm  water  again  and  grad- 
ually let  the  temperature  of  the  water 
go  down  until  it  is  cold.  Rinse  with 
cold  water;  then  remove  the  goods,  ex- 
tract dry.  If  a  clear  bottom  is  de- 
sired, give  the  goods  one  run  on  old 
work  on  the  gig  previous  to  shearing. 
After  shearing,  steam,  brush  and  press. 

If  the  above  process  is  followed 
in  finishing,  there  will  be  less  trouble 
in  passing  goods  at  the  perch  previous 
to  shipping,  more  perfect  goods  sent 
out  by  the  mill  and  a  greater  measure 
of  prosperity  for  all  concerned. 

No.  92. 


TEXTILE 


DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


135 


RAMIE  FIBRE. 


Ill  speaking  of  China  grass,  (ramie), 
we  are  justified  in  claiming  that  it  is 
one  of  the  oldest  fibres,  if  not  the  old- 
est, that  was  ever  cultivated  or 
made  into  a  textile  fabric.  While  wools, 
hairs,  silks  and  cottons  were  made  in- 
10  cloth  long  before  history  was  writ- 
ten, ramie  is  just  as  old  a  fibre,  if  not 
older,  for  it  has  been  proved  without 
the  least  shadow  of  a  doubt  that  the 
mummies  that  were  unearthed  in 
Egypt,  after  having  been  buried  thou- 
sands of  years,  were  wrapped  up  in 
cloth  made  from  this  fibre.  We  might 
also  assume  that  the  linen  mentioned 
in  sacred  history,  as  far  as  age  is 
concerned,  may  be  justly  applied  to 
China  grass.  From  time  immemorial, 
cloth  has  been  made  from  ramie  in 
India,  China  and  Japan,  the  native 
fishermen  of  these  countries  having 
been  accustomed  to  make  their  nets 
and  sail  cloths  from  this  fibre  long  be- 
fore any  other  cloth  or  netting  was 
known.  It  has  been  assumed  that  this 
fibre  has  been  made  into  cloths,  etc., 
in  India,  China,  Japan  and  most  parts 
of  Asia  for  upwards  of  four  thousand 
years.  While  we  have  not  been  able 
to  collect  very  extensive  information 
upon  ramie  previous  to  1865,  we  have 
from  that  period  been  more  success- 
ful. 

Ramie,  rhea,  or  China  grass,  (Boeh- 
meria  nivea)  is  of  the  nettle  family 
of  plants  and  is  indigenous  to  eastern 
Asia.  It  is  cultivated  in  southern 
Japan,  Formosa,  Korea,  and  in  many 
of  the  China  provinces;  also  in  the 
Punjab  and  many  parts  of  British 
India.  The  United  States  Department 
of  Agriculture  has  demonstrated  that 
it  can  be  grown  successfully  on  suit- 
able soil  from  Maryland  to  California, 
and  from  Sacramento  southward.  The 
plant  grows  from  two  feet  to  six  feet 
tall,  and  is  from  one-eighth  of  an 
inch  to  three-quarters  of  an  inch  in 
thickness.    The  consul    at  Hankow, 


China,  has  recently  submitted  a  state- 
ment to  the  effect  that  the  present 
shipment  from  Hankow  is  upwards  of 
15,000  tons  annually,  and  that  it  can 
be  increased  to  supply  the  demand. 
COMPOSITION  OF  RAMIE  STEMS. 

The  composition  of  ramie  stems  fol- 
lows: carbon,  47.28  per  cent;  hydro- 
gen, 6.26;  nitrogen,  0.9;  oxygen,  42.23, 
and  ash,  4.14,  making  100  per  cent. 
Under  favorable  circumstances,  and 
on  suitable  soil,  from  two  to  five  crops 
per  year  can  be  harvested,  with  a 
yield  of  from  50  to  60  pounds  of  dry 
ribbons,  from  a  ton  of  green  stalks. 
The  yield  m.ay  range  from  500  to  700 
pounds  of  ramie  ribbons  per  acre  from 
each  crop.  Up  to  the  present  time,  no 
special  machinery  has  been  devised 
for  cutting  the  green  stem.  In  Asia 
the  bark,  including  the  fibre,  is 
stripped  from  the  stalk  immediately 
after  it  is  cut.  The  thin  outer  bark 
which  clings  tenaciously,  and  the 
green  coloring  matter,  are  scraped 
from  the  fibre  by  drawing  the  fresh 
green  strips  of  bark  between  a  thim- 
ble and  a  blunt  knife  held  in  the  hand. 
Green  stalks  can  be  kept  without  un- 
dergoing fermentation  by  putting 
them  into  a  solution  composed  of  bi- 
sulphite, or  weak  solution  of  sulphur- 
ous acid.  Aften  10  minutes'  boiling  of 
stems  in  a  carbonate  of  soda  or  weak 
caustic  soda  solution,  the  bark  can 
be  removed  more  readily;  even  dry 
stems  can  be  decorticated  after  hav- 
ing been  boiled  for  30  minutes  in  the 
above  solution.  The  fibres  thus  clean- 
ed are  known  as  ramie  ribbons,  and 
in  this  state  are  put  on  the  market. 

It  has  been  assumed  that  the  gov- 
ernment of  British  India  has  been  the 
means  of  bringing  this  fibre  into 
prominence,  when,  in  1862,  this  gov- 
ernment offered  $25,000  for  the  best 
machine  for  the  decorticating  of  the 
green  stalk.  In  1872,  quite  a  number 
of  these  machines  were  put  on  exhi- 
bition, and  again,  in  1879,  but  neither 
of  these  exhibitions  coming  up  to  the 
expectations  in  requirements,  the  gov- 
ernment withdrew  its  offer.  It  has  of- 


126 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


ten  been  asked  if  ramie  (China  grass) 
will  ever  be  manufactured  into  fab- 
rics and  other  goods  the  same  as 
wools,  hairs  and  silks.  When  we  look 
back  to  the  sixties,  at  the  time  the 
above  offer  was  made,  and  consider 
the  advancements  made  in  these  ma- 
chines, one  would  look  with  encour- 
agement at  the  progress  made  in  this 
stage  of  the  ramie  industry;  whereas, 
to-day,  many  decorticating  machines 
have  been  patented  both  here  and 
abroad,  while  quite  a  few  private  par- 
t  es  have  built  machines  that  are 
working  very  successfully  in  exhibi- 
tion tests  in  Cuba,  Havana  and  Cali- 
fornia. Those  w^ho  wish  to  become 
better  acquainted  with  decorticating 
machines  may  consult  the  works  of 
F.  Michotte,  of  Paris,  France. 
DRY  RIBBONS  AND  DEGUMMING. 

Following  is  a  price  list  for  ramie 
ribbon:  Ramie  ribbons  can  be  put 
down  in  New  York  or  San  Francisco 
at  about  nine  cents  per  pound  by  the 
bale  lots  of  2,240  pounds  per  ton;  un- 
baling,  examining  and  whipping,  one 
cent  and  three  mills  per  pound;  unty- 
ing, rebinding  and  caging,  five  mills 
per  pound;  degumming  solution  and 
boiling,  six  cents  per  pound;  rewash- 
ing  and  alkaline,  one  cent  and  five 
mills  per  pound;  bleaching  and  re- 
washing,  two  cents  and  five  mills  per 
pound,  and  drying,  two  cents  per 
pound.  Taking  these  figures  on  100 
pounds,  (and  in  degumming  we  lose 
from  25  to  30  per  cent  in  shrinkage) 
at  271  per  cent  we  shall  only 
have  72i  pounds  of  dry  ramie  ribbons, 
which  would  cost  almost  29  cents  per 
pound  for  degumming  them  for  the 
various  processes.  It  has  been  said 
that  the  gums  and  cements  holding  to- 
gether the  filaments  of  ramie,  are 
composed  of  pectose,  cutose,  and  vas- 
culose,  while  the  fibre  itself  is  com- 
posed of  fibrose  cellulose,  and  its 
derivatives.  The  theory  of  separating 
these  gums  from  the  fibre  is  to  wash 
out  one  without  attracting  the  other. 
Many  inventors  of  decorticating  and 
degumming  processes  have  kept  their 


processes  a  perfect  secret  for  the 
simple  reason  that  they  knew  nothing 
about  ramie  themselves  further  than 
to  experiment.  Some  have  gone  so 
far  as  to  claim  that  degumming  can 
be  done  without  machinery  or  appa- 
ratus, or  even  chemical  process  by  a 
method  as  simple  as  retting  of  fiax 
or  hemp.  But  the  invention  and  se- 
cret of  these  inventors  have  resulted 
in  nothing  but  partially  decorticating 
and  degumming.  No  wonder  we 
should  be  somewhat  skeptical  in  re- 
gard to  the  possibilities  of  this  re- 
markable fibre  when  we  run  up 
against  such  propositions  as  these.  In 
one  place  is  a  process,  consisting  of 
soaking  the  ribbons  in  a  hot  chemical 
solution,  losing  sight  of  the  amount 
of  ribbons  to  be  treated  and  the 
amount  of  boiling  water  that  would  be 
required,  which  would  be  ruinous  to 
anyone  considering  this  process.  Many 
people  have  contrived  to  work  this 
fibre  before  they  have  thoroughly 
studied  the  ramie  problem,  which  has 
resulted  in  a  complete  failure. 

METHODS  OF  DEGUMMING. 
Various  ways  and  machines  are  in 
use  to  accomplish  the  degumming  of 
ramie  fibre,  and  one  method  succeed- 
ed in  separating  the  gums  and  resins 
by  a  process  of  silicate  of  soda,  with- 
out the  slightest  injury  to  the  fibre. 
The  ribbons  were  placed  in  a  weaV 
acid  bath  over  night.  The  next  morn 
ing  they  were  passed  through  a  mild  . 
alkaline  bath,  and  then  boiled  in  a 
weak  solution  of  caustic  soda,  to 
which  zinc  had  been  added.  When 
washed  and  dryed  by  the  usual  me- 
chanical means,  the  fibres  emerged 
free  from  cuticles  and  resinous  gums, 
in  which  they  were  imbeded,  clean, 
white  and  ready  for  the  various 
processes  before  it  is  made  into  yam. 
In  one  mill  in  New  York  state  I  saw 
a  very  peculiar  way  to  separate  these 
gums.  In  this  process  a  very  large 
wire  cage,  holding  100  pounds  of  rib- 
bons, was  submerged  in  a  tank  con- 
taining 150  gallons  of  a  solution  com- 
posed of  alkaline  with  some  caustic 


TEXTILE 


DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


137 


soda  added,  which  was  boiled  from 
three  to  five  hours.  After  the  gums 
had  been  dissolved  they  were  separ- 
ated from  the  layers  of  fibres  by 
washing. 

After  the  ribbons  had  been 
dryed  they  were  very  hard  and 
very  much  clotted  together,  which,  in 
softening  up  would  mean  the  break- 
ing of  the  fibre  to  a  considerable  ex- 
tent. I  have  yet  to  learn  whether  this 
system  has  been  a  success  or  not,  but 
should  not  advise  its  adoption  by  any 
means.  While  most  of  the  ramie 
manufacturers  have  their  own  pecu- 
liar ways  and  secrets  for  separating 
these  gums,  we  are  becoming  better 
informed  and  have  a  more  extensive 
knowledge  of  what  is  being  done  in 
this  department  of  the  manufacturing 
of  ramie  (China  grass).  A  boiling 
kier  for  gumming  ramie  ribbons  is 
made  by  Greenwood  &  Battey,  Leeds, 
England,  which  separates  the  gums 
by  what  is  know  as  the  pressure  sys- 
tem. The  ribbons  are  placed  in  a 
number  of  small  wire  cages,  then  in- 
closed in  the  kier  with  a  solution  most 
applicable  to  this  process,  composed 
of  weak  oleates  and  alkalines  and 
put  under  steam  pressure  varying 
from  15  to  20  pounds  from  three  to 
five  hours.  This  is  without  doubt  the 
most  expensive  and  difficult  opera- 
tion connected  with  the  preparing  or 
manufacturing  of  China  grass.  While 
people  employed  in  the  manufacture 
of  ramie  have  their  own  peculiar 
methods  in  this  department,  it  re- 
mains an  open  question  whether  or 
not  degumming  can  be  done  so  as  to 
leave  the  fibres  separated,  as  we  find 
them  in  wools,  hairs,  etc.  Quite  re- 
cently a  machine  was  patented  here 
and  abroad  which  would  be  the  most 
likely  to  accomplish  this  end.  Having 
kept  in  touch  with  this  industry  since 
1888,  in  the  cultivation,  harvesting, 
decorticating  and  degumming  of  same, 
we  would  look  forward  to  the  time 
when  ramie  fibres  can  be  produced 
from  the  degummed  state,  soft  and 
loose. 

Paving    spent    some    three  years 


in  British  India,  I  was  very  much  in- 
terested and  astonished  by  the  way  in 
which  the  natives  of  that  country  ac- 
complished these  ends.  Having  com- 
pleted the  degumming  processes,  the 
fibres  go  through  various  machines 
previous  to  manufacturing  into  various 
textiles,  and  several  classes  of  ma- 
chinery are  used  to  accomplish  these 
processes.  Greenwood  &  Battey, 
before  mentioned,  have  issued  a  cata- 
logue of  machinery  of  the  latest  im- 
proved principles  as  adopted  by  the 
leading  ramie  spinners  in  Great 
Britain,  France,  Germany,  China  and 
Japan.  What  is  known,  as  the  French 
and  German  system,  which  requires 
very  heavy  and  expensive  machinery, 
is  used.  In  the  preparing  or  softening 
up  of  the  fibre,  the  first  process  is  to 
go  through  what  is  known  as  a  double 
softening  machine  composed  of  six 
sets  of  steel  rolls  (fiuted)  for  squeez- 
ing and  softening  up  the  fibre,  then 
through  a  large  fulling  engine  with 
two  pair  of  steel  fiuted  rolls,  also 
combs  and  porcupines,  also  through 
other  machines — same  as  last  men- 
tioned, then  through  a  dressing  ma- 
chine with  self  stripper  drum. 

PROCESSES. 

The  sliver  is  then  put  through  an 
intersecting  screw,  gill  spreader,  also 
an  open  or  single  gill  spreader,  then 
into  a  simple  gill  drawing  frame  to 
double  roving  frame,  to  wet  or  damp 
spinning,  to  twisting,  gassing  and 
finishing  machines.  This  system  is 
in  use  in  some  parts  of  England, 
France,  Germany,  China  and  Japan, 
but  we  have  not  seen  these  machines 
in  use  in  this  country.  There  is  a 
mill  working  very  successfully  in 
Pennsylvania,  also  another  in  Connec- 
ticut, but  as  far  as  can  be  learned, 
they  are  using  machinery  of  their  own 
construction.  In  what  is  known  as 
the  English  worsted  system,  the  de- 
gummed  ribbons  are  put  through  a  nest 
of  heavy  preparing  gill  boxes,  with 
double  sets  of  fallers  and  double 
screws  or  cams.  The  ribbons  are  put 
through  these  machines    until  such 


138 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


time  as  it  is  considered  advisable  to 
put  the  sliver  or  laps  through  a  Lister 
or  Noble  comb.  Then  through  a  set 
of  very  fine  gill  boxes  previous  to 
cone  or  open  English  drawing,  then  to 
spinning  (flyer),  to  twisting  (flyer),  to 
gassing  and  finishing  frame.  Imported 
French  and  German  tops  to  spin  fifties 
(worsted  system)  yarns,  cost  as  high 
as  $1.20  per  pound  in  New  York  and 
Boston,  while  the  yarns  have  been  im- 
ported for  the  same  counts  at  $1.53 
per  pound.  The  preparing  and  spin- 
ning of  China  grass  is  no  longer  an  ex- 
periment, as  these  industries  are 
fairly  established  in  Europe,  and  are 
becoming  established  here. 

With  improvements  in  machinery 
and  processes  to  better  the  appearance 
of  the  product  to  supply  a  new  form  of 
fabric,  and  to  reduce  the  price  of 
manufacture,  it  will  follow  that  the 
ramie  industry  will  take  its  place 
with  other  industries  in  the  vast  tex- 
tile occupations.  While  ramie  is  more 
expensive  than  other  vegetable  fibres, 
it  will  be  used  only  for  such  purposes 
as  are  most  applicable  to  its  use.  In 
the  top  or  sliver,  the  fibres  are  about 
eight  inches  long  on  an  average,  mak- 
ing it  very  durable  and  strong.  It  is 
of  all  fibres  the  least  affected  by 
moisture  and  from  these  characteris- 
tics it  must  take  first  place  as  a  tex- 
tile substance.  It  has  several  times 
the  strength  of  Russian  hemp,  while 
its  filaments  can  be  separated  almost 
to  the  fineness  of  silk.  The  combined 
lightness  and  toughness  of  the  fibre 
render  it  peculiarly  suitable  for  tents, 
ship  canvas,  automobile  tires,  fire- 
hose and  other  fabrics  that  are  ex- 
posed to  water  and  dampness.  An 
automobile  tire  that  now  weighs  11 
pounds,  made  from  ramie  fibre  woula 
only  weigh  6J  pounds,  while  its  re- 
sisting power  and  strain  would  be  from 
15  to  20  per  cent  greater. 

Its  fibres  are  excelled  by  none  in 
fineness,  and  it  excels  all  others  in 
strength.  While  in  Germany,  there  are 


some  factories  that  are  fairly  success- 
ful industries  in  this  branch  of  the  tex- 
tile trade,  probably  the  most  success- 
ful ramie  spinning  mills  are  in  France. 
In  England  several  companies  had  tak- 
en up  the  China  grass  industry  as  early 
as  1867,  Messrs.  Joseph  Wade  &  Sons, 
Bradford,  England  having  sent  soma 
very  fine  samples  of  ramie  manufacture 
to  the  United  States  Department  of  Ag- 
riculture at  this  date  and  during 
the  last  25  years,  several  factories 
have  been  in  operation  at  various 
times  and  places  in  different 
parts  of  Europe  and  this  coun- 
try, which,  have  produced  ramie 
goods  in  almost  every  variety  of  fab- 
rics. The  period  when  the  question  of 
where  and  how  ramie  can  be  made  in 
to  goods  is  past,  and  to-day  ramie 
stands  and  is  sold  in  the  New  York  and 
Boston  market,  as  a  successful  fab- 
ric competing  strongly  with  other  fab- 
rics, and  sales  are  increasing  with  re- 
placed orders  coming  in  in  a 
manner  which  assures  us  that  the 
fabric  is  a  commercial  success,  and 
has  a  great  possibility  before  it.  In 
New  York,  damask  table  cloths  and 
napkins  are  sold,  and  it  is  an  actual 
fact  that  these  goods  are  standing 
from  130  to  150  per  cent  more  hard- 
ships in  the  shape  of  washing,  and 
wear  than  other  goods  made  from  lin- 
en, cotton,  etc.  No.  93. 


HINTS  ABOUT  DRESSING. 


In  some  factories  all  warps  are 
beamed  one  width,  and  where  the 
number  of  sections  vary,  it  is  not  al- 
ways possible  to  avoid  having  some 
sections  pinned  either  narrower  or 
wider  than  others,  and  in  case  the 
warp  is  a  full  one,  it  results  in  either 
a  high  or  low  section. 

The  best  way  to  avoid  this  is  to 
have  beams  with  one  piece  flanges 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


139 


which  can  be  moved  either  in  or  out 
as  needed  and  then  set  all  sections  ex- 
actly aLke,  which  can  most  always  be 
done  without  beaming  the  warp  more 
than  two  inches  wider  than  it  will  be 
needed. 

In  mills  where  the  rolls  are  used, 
either  on  dry  work  or  sized  work,  it 
is  sometimes  hard  to  make  an  even 
warp,  and  there  are  several  ways  to 
overcome  it. 

One  is  to  use  the  rule  and  measure 
at  a  certain  cut  on  a  section  and  see 
if  it  is  the  same  at  that  cut  on  all 
sections,  but  my  method  is  better,  I 
think. 

On  the  first  section  when  making  a 
warp  of  ten  cuts  or  more,  at  the  third, 
fifth  and  eighth  cuts,  when  the  yard 
clock  is 

RIGHT  ON  THE  MARK, 

chalk  the  bar  at  the  top  of 
reel  3,  5  or  8,  as  the  case 
may  be,  and  forget  that  you  have 
a  rule.  Then  on  the  second  section, 
which  will  usually  vary  a  little,  set 
the  yard  clock  again,  and  when  at  the 
third,  fifth  or  eighth  cut,  if 
the  bar  which  is  chalked  is 
not  at  the  top  where  it  should 
be,  let  out  the  friction  a  little 
if  the  mark  has  gone  by  or  take  up  a 
little  if  the  marked  bar  is  not  yet  at 
the  top  when  it  should  be  by  the  yard 
clock. 

Then,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  warp, 
the  test  can  be  repeated,  if  wanted,  and 
on  the  last  section,  which  is  apt  to  be 
high  if  not  watched,  on  a  big  warp 
with  extra  listing,  take  up  a  little  at 
the  start  and  more  if  your  mark  tells 
you  it  is  necessary  at  the  fifth  cut  or 
so. 

If  this  method  is  followed  it  is  no 
trouble  to  the  dresser  and  a  rule  is 
not  needed  at  all. 

Also  there  will  be  no  need  of  pull- 
ing back  several  cuts  in  order  to  put 
it  on  the  reel  slacker.  No.  94. 


YARN  COST 

CALCULATIONS. 


It  is  frequently  necessary  in  cost 
calculation  to  compute  the  price  per 
pound  of  double  and  twist  yarn.  It 
the  two  threads  are  of  equal  size,  the 
calculation  is,  of  course,  a  simple  one, 
but  in  case  the  yarns  are  of  different 
sizes  and  prices,  the  computation  ot 
the  price  of  the  twisted  yarn  becomes 
a  tedious  process. 

I  have  worked  out  for  my  own  use 
a  very  simple  formula  (2)  for  this  cal- 
culation which,  so  far  as  I  know,  has 
never  before  been  published  or  used 
elsewhere. 

FAMILIAR  METHOD. 

I  also  include  a  formula  (1)  for  de- 
termining the  size  of  a  double  and 
twist  yarn  made  up  of  two  different 
sizes.  This  method  is  more  or  less 
familiar: 

a  equals  number  of  first  thread, 
b  equals  number  of  second  thread, 
c  equals  cost  per  pound  of  first  thread, 
d  equals  cost  per  pound  of  second  thread. 

The  numbered  size  of  two  yarns,  a 
and  b,  twisted  together,  is  represented 
by  the  formula: 

a  b 


The  cost  per  pound  of  the  two  yarna 
BO  twisted  is  represented  by  the  for- 
mula: 

a  d  +  b  c 

(2)   

a  +  b 

To  illustrate  by  an  example,  suppose 
we  have  to  twist  together  No.  10  cot- 
ton yarn,  costing  20  cents  per  pound, 
and  a  No.  40  cotton  yarn,  costing  50 


140 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


cents  per  pound.  The  size  of  the  twist- 
ed yarn  will  be  by  (1): 

10  X  40  400 

 equals  —  equals  No.  8 

10  4-  40  50 

The  cost  per  pound  of  the  twisted 
yarn  will  be  by  (2): 

10  X  50  +  40  X  20  1300 

 equals   equals  26c. 

10  +  40  50 

RESULT  THE  SAME. 

In  the  case  of  yarns  number- 
ed under  different  systems,  the 
same  result  can  be  obtained  by 
taking  the  number  of  yards  to 
the  pound  instead  of  the  number  of 
the  yarn.  Thus,  by  twisting  together 
a  yarn  No.  3  run  wool  at  40  cents  per 
pound,  and  No.  20  worsted,  at  90  cents 
per  pound,  by  formula: 

(1)  4800  X  11.200  5376 

 equals  equals  3360  yds.  per  lb. 

4800  +  11.200  160 

(2)  4800  X  90  4-  31.200  x  40  8800 
 equals          equals  55c. 

4800  +  11.200  160 
vost  per  pound. 

If  anyone  will  take  the  trouble  to 
get  the  result  by  regular  methods,  he 
will  be  surprised  by  the  saving  in  time 
through  using  the  formula.      No.  95. 


THE  SPINNING  ROOM. 


One  of  the  questions  that  seem  to  be 
most  important  to  the  cotton  manufac- 
turer to-day,  is  how  to  secure  the  larg- 
est possible  production  of  good  quality, 
at  the  minimum  cost  per  pound. 

You  will  all  agree  with  me  that  to 
obtain  this  result,  much  depends  on 
the  intelligence  and  diligence  of  the 
operatives,  including  the  overseer  and 
his  assistants  in  charge,  and  on  the 
physical  condition  of  the  frame,  to- 
gether with  the  quality  of  the  roving. 
These  essentials  must  exist  in  order 
to  produce  satisfactory  results  both  as 
to  quality  and  quantity. 

It  is  very  desirable  and  necessary  in 
order  to  keep  the  cost  down  where  it 
belongs,  that  the  yarn,  whether  it  be 
sale  yarn,  in  skeins,  warps,  or  cones,  or 


woven  into  cloth  at  the  mill  where  It 
is  spun,  be  a  round,  strong,  and  even 
yarn. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  call  your  at- 
tention to  the  fact  that  a  traveler, 
suited  to  spin  No.  36s  yarn  will  give 
better  results  on  No.  36s  yarn  than  on 
No.  32s  or  No.  40s  yarn,  at  the  same 
speed,  and  on  the  same  diameter  of 
ring.  Yet  I  have  seen  many  mills  us- 
ing travelers  with  that  variation  on  the 
same  frame.  The  nearer  the  yarn  on 
every  individual  bobbin  sizes  to  the 
number  that  is  required,  the  higher 
speed  you  can  run.  I  have  noticed  that 
when  an  overseer  sizes  his  yarns,  he  is 
content  to  run  yarn  from  four  bobbins 
together  on  his  reel;  weigh  same  to- 
gether and  divide  by  four,  to  get  the 
average  weight,  and  then  say  that  he 
is  spinning  the  number  this  average 
weight  calls  for.  This  method  does 
not  give  satisfactory  results,  as  it  does 
not  show  the  variation  between  bob- 
bins. A  much  better  way  is  to  weigh 
each  skein  separately. 

1  believe,  in  addition  to  sizing  twice 
daily  the  yarns  on  bobbins  that  are 
spun  from  the  card  room  samples; 
every  mill  which  does  this  would 
profit  by  having  its  spinner  weigh 
daily  a  generous  number  of  bobbins, 
taken  at  random  over  the  room.  If  a 
spinner  is  honestly  trying  to  find  out 
how  bad  his  work  is,  instead  of  how 
well  he  can  make  it  show  up  on  pa- 
per, regardless  of  its  condition,  he 
will  select  his  bobbins  partly  where 
ends  are  down  and  partly  where  ends 
are  up,  and  also  look  for  abnormal 
variations  on  the  ballooning  of  the 
yarn.  This  will  give  him  the  widest 
range  of  numbers  he  has. 

Of  course,  after  it  is  found  out  that 
there  is  a  wide 

VARIATION  IN  COUNTS 
spun  from  the  same  roving,  from  the 
same  drafts,  it  is  then  generally  con- 
sidered in  order  to  jump  on  the 
carder  with  both  feet  for  not  making 
more  even  roving.  The  trouble  may  be 
there,  but  there  is  a  possibility  that 
unevenness  may  be  caused  in  the  spin- 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


141 


ning  frame  itself.  The  top  rolls  may 
not  be  properly  covered,  and  one  boss 
of  the  roll  may  be  a  trifle  larger  than 
the  other,  If  this  is  so,  there  will  be 
a  different  number  spun  by  each  boss 
if  the  roving  were  absolutely  perfect. 
If  the  top  rolls  are  so  long  as  to  fit 
tightly  in  the  cap  bars,  or  the  space 
between  the  ends  of  the  top  rolls  and 
their  bearings  in  the  cap  bars  is  al- 
lowed to  fill  with  cotton  and  dirt  so 
that'  they  bind,  uneven  yarn  will  re- 
sult. 

Roving  guides  partially  choked  by 
waste  will  stretch  the  roving.  A  top 
roll  that  becomes  grooved  by  the  flutes 
of  the  steel  roll  will  cause  unevenness. 
Lack  of  oil  on  saddles,  or  top  rolls 
running  out  of  square  with  the  steel 
roll,  will  make  uneven  yarn.  Poorly 
fitted  or  badly  balanced  bobbins,  long 
piecings  made  in  creeling,  waste  gath- 
ering around  ends  of  skewers,  skewers 
with  their  lower  ends  blunted  or  that 
bind  in  the  creel,  will  all  contribute 
to  make  uneven  yarn. 

Sometimes  when  the  spindle  speed 
is  slow,  and  a  heavy  traveler  is  used, 
^he  yarn  on  the  small  part  of  the  boT)- 
bin  is  stretched,  while  that  on  the 
large  part  is  not  affected.  This  can  be 
remedied  by  increasing  the  spindle 
speed  slightly,  and  using  a  lighter 
traveler.  If  over  75  per  cent  of  the 
ends  break  down  at  the  smaller  diam- 
eter of  the  bobbin,  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  a  lighter  traveler  and 
HIGHER  SPEED 
will  give  better  results. 

To  secure  the  best  possible  results 
from  a  spinning  room,  each  individual 
spindle  should  be  kept  set  properly  and 
have  the  same  care  as  though  it  were 
the  only  one  in  the  room.  Each  individ- 
ual frame  should  be  kept  in  the  best 
running  order  possible.  Frames  should 
be  level,  both  lengthwise  and  cross- 
wise. Lifting  rods  should  not  bind 
and  should  be  kept  free  from  accu- 
mulations of  lint  and  dust.  Ring  rails 
should  be  level  in  both  directions,  and 
the  rings  should  be  square  upon  the 
surface  of  the  ring  rail.  Travelers 


should  fit  the  flange  of  the  ring.  Worn 
travelers  and  rings  with  wavy  sur- 
faces should  not  be  used.  Spindles 
should  be  exactly  in  the  centre  of  the 
ring  at  all  points  of  the  traverse.  Steel 
rolls  should  be  kept  free  from  cotton, 
bearings  should  be  well  lubricated,  and 
flutes  should  be  scoured  often  enough 
to  keep  them  free  from  dirt. 

Some  of  the  following  points  in  the 
construction  of  our  steel  rolls  may  be 
of  interest  to  you.  Realizing  the  strain 
on  the  roll,  we  use  the  best  steel 
we  can  buy.  We  specify  the  percent- 
age of  carbon,  phosphorous,  sulphur 
and  manganese  in  every  order.  Every 
bar  before  being  used  is  tested  by  a 
chemist  to  determine  its  quality,  and 
if  the  test  shows  the  bar  to  fall  below 
the  grade  specified,  it  is  condemned 
and  the  whole  shipment  is  rejected. 

Each  boss  is  turned  down  to  abso- 
lute diameter,  not  varying  over  1-2000 
inches.  The  necks  of  these  rolls  receive 
special  treatment  to  reduce  wear. 

If  the  frame  is  kept  level,  roll  stands 
properly  aligned  and  bearings  kept  oil- 
ed and  free  from 

ACCUMULATIONS  OF  WASTE, 

it  is  easy  to  see  that  the  life  of  the 
roll  will  be  a  great  deal  longer  than 
it  is  in  many  instances. 

On  this  accumulation  of  waste,  I 
might  state  here  that  the  practice  in 
England  of  scouring  frames  is  to  do 
a  certain  number  per  week,  so  that  a 
room,  we  v/ill  say,  with  one  hundred 
frames  will  be  scoured  once  a  year. 
The  practice  usually  in  the  North  is 
to  scour  either  in  April  or  May,  and  put 
on  sufficient  men  to  do  all  the  room  at 
once,  not  keeping  more  than  one 
frame  stopped  at  any  one  time. 

If  you  would  have  the  spinners  keep 
their  machinery  clean,  it  becomes  the 
overseer's  duty  to  keep  the  floor  clean; 
all  spinners'  waste  should  be  put  in 
the  spinners*  pocket,  and  deposited  in 
a  box,  as  this  waste,  kept  clean,  is 
worth  8  cents  per  pound.  Let  it  drop 
on  the  floor,  and  it  is  worth  4  cents. 

When  I  scour  steel  rolls,  I  always 
make  it  a  practice  to  see  if  the  frame 


142 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


is  level  before  putlng  the  rolls  back, 
ascertaining  if  the  bearings  show  wear, 
,and  if  any  are  worn  they  are  replaced. 
The  alignment  of  the  stands  is  also 
looked  after,  and  the  bearings  and 
joints  of  the  rolls  are  carefully  exam- 
ined to  see  if  they  are  worn  or  loo^e. 
This  only  adds  a  short  time  to  the 
overhauling,  and  is  fully  warranted 
by  the  results  it  gives. 

The  question  of  length  of  drafts, 
length  of  traverse  and  the  diameter  of 
rings  for  the  several  counts  could  be 
argued  indefinitely.  I  have  never,  how- 
ever, been  able  to  convince  myself  that 
abnormally  large  rings  and  long  trav- 
erses can  benefit  the  general  welfare 
of  the  mill.  They  certainly  do  noit 
improve  the  speed  and  production  of 
the  spinning  room,  and  I  notice  that 
the  last  few  years  have  shown  a 
change  in  the  ideas  of  our  leading 
spinners  toward  a  more  rational  sized 
bobbin. 

Regarding  drafts,  I  think  you  all  will 
agree  with  me  that  while,  of  course, 
it  is  necessary  to  make  a  number  of 
rovings  in  the  card  room  that  will 
enable  the  roving  frame  spindle  to  pro- 
duce enough  pounds  to  keen  the  spin- 
ning in  operation,  a  draft  of  6.50  to  7.25 
on  single  roving,  and  8.50  to  11.24  on 
double  roving,  is  much  more  desirable 
than  longer  drafts,  especially  when  tho 
staple  is  poor,  or  during  dog-day 
weather. 

Some  of  the  best  spinners  I  have  met 
owe  their  success  not  only  to  the  fact 
that  they  are  thoroughly  posted  in  all 
matters  pertaining  to  their  machine, 
but  also  because  they  are  good  organ- 
izers. System  and  routine  mean  more 
to  the  spinning  room  than  to  any 
of  the  others.  A  schedule  of  cleaning 
and  oiling  should  be  made  out  system- 
atically, so  that  all  frames  in  the  room 
receive  attention  at  the  same  time.  In 
making  up  this  schedule,  care  should 
be  taken  so  that  cleaning  the  different 
parts  of  the  frame  will  not  conflict  one 
with  another.  A  system  like  this,  well 
carried  out,  will  enable  the  overseer 
to  see  that  his  room  is  kept  systematic- 
ally cleaned.  No.  96. 


SELF-STRIPPING  AR- 
RANGEMENT FOR  CARDS. 


The  arrangement  which  I  wish  to 
describe  has  for  its  object  the  elimina- 
tion of  poor  laps  and  also  the  saving 
of  much  time  now  used  in  mills  for 
stripping  the  card  cylinders. 

On  most  cards  there  is  a  large  band 
pulley  behind  the  driving  pulley  which 
we  may  use  to  drive  the  stripping 
brush,  as  shown  by  the  dotted  lines  in 
the  accompanying  figure. 

The  stripping  brush  should  be  ar- 
ranged to  run  slightly  faster  than  the 
cylinder,  and  in  addition  to  keeping  the 
cylinder  wire  clean,  it  will  maintain  a 
fine,  sharp  edge  on  the  wire.  The  strip- 
per will  not  hurt  the  wire  as  it  is  going 
with  it,  and  only  slightly  faster,  ana 
the  straight  wire  on  the  stripping 
brush  will  not  hold  the  dirt  and  dusi, 
but  will  knock  it  off. 

A  hole  can  be  easily  made  in  eacli 
side  of  the  card  for  the  stripper  shaft 
and  the  stripper  brush  should  be  set 
at  about  5  gauge.  A  guard  should  be 
placed,  as  shown  in  the  figure  on  oppo- 
site page,  so  that  any  seed  or  dirt  car- 
ried around  by  the  brush  will  be  con- 
veyed to  the  proper  place. 

With  this  self-stripping  arrange- 
ment, the  cylinder  is  kept  clean  all 
the  time,  and  only  clean  cotton  will  be 
passed  to  the  doffer.  It  will  probably 
be  wise  to  strip  the  doffer  once  a  week, 
and  even,  clean  sliver  will  be  produced. 
Much  time  will  be  saved  by  eliminating 
the  stoppage  now  necessary  for  hand 
stripping.  For  example,  a  mill  with 
one  hundred  cards,  stripping  four  times 
a  day  would  use  up  time  equivalent 
approximately  to  that  required  for  pro- 
ducing three  thousand  pounds  per 
week. 

The  self-stripper  would  mean  a  sav- 
ing for  the  mill  of  $15  to  $20  per 
week.  The  good  cotton  will  be  taken 
off  by  the  doffer  and  the  self-stripper 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


143 


will  remove  short  cotton,  seed,  and 
shell.  The  cylinder  wire  will  be  kepi 
in  good  condition,  and  as  indicatea, 
much  time  and  money  will  be  saved  In 
the  card  room.  No.  97. 


DEFECTS  IN  STYLING. 


How  often  we  read  of  American  de- 
signers failing  to  show  orignality.  Yes, 
it  is  always  the  dos  gner  who  fails  to 
originate.     One  never  hears  about  the 


firm  was  to  have  a  line  of  stylings  of 
their  own  to  be  selected  from  the  reg- 
ular blankets  after  the  regular  selling 
agents  had  made  their  selections. 
When 

THE  SEASON  OPENED, 
the  regular  house  had  a  "dope"  line,  as 
the  trade  termed  it,  their  designer 
must  be  a  *'dope"  or  asleep,  or  most 
anything  except  onto  his  job,  while  the 
special  account,  on  the  same  fabric  and 
from  the  same  blankets,  by  the  same 
designer  had  one  of  the  cleanest,  snap- 


G  UARD 


Self-Stripping  Arrangement  for  Cards. 


styler  who  fails  to  take  advantage  of  the 
original  work  which  the  designer  may 
have  put  before  him.  Oh  no,  the  de- 
signer is  the  goat  and  upon  his 
shoulders  falls  the  blame.  In  many 
cases  it  is  the  styler  wTio  fails  to  be 
original,  by  ignoring  the  original  work 
of  the  designer,  or  by  discouraging 
originality  in  the  designer  with  the  oft 
heard  time-worn  phrase,  "The  trade 
don't  want  that",  or,  "That  isn't  what 
the  trade  is  going  to  buy".  Take 
for  example,  the  case  of  a  mill  who  had 
a  special  account  in  New  York,  a 
house  who  sold  for  them  ^ther  than 
their   regular   selling  agents.  This 


piest,  newest  and  best  selling  lines  on 
the  market.  How  do  you  account  for 
this?  Certainly  the  reason  lay  be- 
yond the  designer.  One  of  the  stylers 
had  failed  to  recognize  the  good  things 
in  the  blankets  and  the  other  had  not, 
and  there  lay  the  difference.  The 
above  is  not  written  to  create  an  argu- 
ment between  styler  and  designer,  but 
more  to  show  that  what  is  always 
blamed  on  to  the  designer  is  some- 
times not  his  fault. 

Again,  many  mills  have  designers 
working  for  them  who  have  rarely,  if 
ever,  seen  New  York,  and  it  would 
probably  be  impossible    to  convince 


144 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


many  mill  managers  that  a  day  or  two 
in  New  York  occasionally  would  be  of 
any  benefit  to  the  designers,  or  to  the 
mill.  It  is  queer,  too,  for  when  you 
stOD  to  consider,  he  is  working  for 

THE  NEW  YORK  END 
of  the  business  as  much  as  for  the 
mill,  because  the  mill  has  got  to  be 
successful  in  New  York,  first,  last,  and 
always.  It  must  sell  first,  and  manu- 
facture afterwards.  How  much  more 
intelligently  the  designer  could  work 
If  he  could  only  meet  the  men  who  are 
to  sell  his  product,  and  of  still  more 
importance,  if  he  could  only  meet  the 
men  who  are  to  buy  it,  or  perhaps 
some  of  them. 

For  instance,  a  manufacturing  cloth- 
ier wants  to  buy  500  pieces  from  your 
house,  they  to  select  their  own  styles 
from  blankets  made  to  their  own  ideas. 
Everything  is  arranged  in  New  York 
for  eveirybody  except  the  designer. 
The  buyers  comes  to  the  New  York 
ofiice  and  some  members  of  your  firm 
meets  him  there,  and  between  them 
they  talk  of  price,  fabric,  yarn,  grade, 
delivery  and  a  hundred  other  inciden- 
tals, and  then  the  buyer  pulls  out  his 
bunch  of  ideas,  or  suggestions  for 
styles  he  wants;  these  are 

RUN  OVER  SUPERFICIALLY 
and 'at  length,  the  manager  or  super- 
intendent, or  other  memiber  of  the 
firm  puts  them  into  his  bag  and  re- 
turns home,  throws  the  suggestions  on 
the  designers  desk  and  remarks  some- 
thing as  follows:  **Here  are  some 
blanket  suggestions  from  X  &  Com- 
pany and  if  you  can  give  them  some- 
thing good  they  will  buy  500  pieces. 
We  have  promised  to  show  them  these 
blankets  a  week  from  to-day,  so  rush 
them  out  as  fast  as  you  can.  Run  your 
sample  looms  nights,  Saturday  after- 
noons and  Sundays." 

Right  here  the  designer  finds  that  he 
has  been  bound  to  get  out  a  certain 
limited  number  of  blankets  ner  day, 
and  in  the  process  of  making  them  he 
finds  himself  thinking  like  this.  **I 
would  like  to  naake  that  style  §o  and  so, 


or  put  on  a  fancy  chain  of  some  sort, 
but  no,  that  would  be  tielng  over  too 
many  threads,  or  it  would  take  too 
long  to  build  the  chain;  if  I  do  that, 
this  blanket  won't  be  out  of  the  loom 
to-night".  In  other  words,  he  finds 
he  hasn't  got  time  to 

PUT  INTO  EXECUTION 
ideas  which  he  may  think  of,  because 
those  blankets  have  got  to  be  in  New 
York  in  a  week,  and  yet  in  the  face  of 
.all  this  they  expect  the  designer  to  be 
origiaial,  when,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
they  have  bound  him  down  to  weaving 
so  many  yards  of  samples  a  day, 
rather  than  making  the  good  things 
they  have  asked  for. 

Well,  the  blankets  go  to  New  York, 
the  buyer  comes  over  to  look  at  them 
and  holds  up  his  hands  in  horror. 
"This  blanket  has  too  much  green 
fancy  in  it,  also  the  styles  are  alto- 
gether to  pronounced",  another  one  Is 
too  flat  looking,  not  enough  silk  in  it, 
and  so  on,  down  through  the  list.  "We 
impressed  upon  you  that  we  wanted 
absolutely  no  green  fancy  threads  in 
our  styles  and  also  to  use  plenty  of 
fine  silk  strippings,  etc.,  and  now  look 
at  this  mess  of  stuff  you  bring  down 
here;  your  designer  must  be  a  *dope 
to  make  such  rot  as  this".  And  that 
is  where  it  usually  ends  up  by  falling 
back  onto  the  designer.  This  particu- 
lar buyer  happened  to  want  his 

STYLES  RADICALLY  DIFFERENT 
from  the  regular  trade  and  made  up 
along  certain  ideas  of  his  own,  and  the 
member  of  your  firm  who  was  in  New 
York  at  first,  had  merely  forgotten  to 
tell  his  designer  this,  while  if  the  de- 
signer himself  could  have  met  the  buy- 
er, he  wouldn't  have  forgotten,  and  al- 
so he  would  have  absorbed  a  whole  lot 
of  other  information  which  might  have 
enabled  him  to  have  gone  back  home 
and  turned  out  a  batch  of  blankets 
which  would  have  been  so  pleasing  that 
they  would  have  been  the  means  of 
selling  750  or  1,000  pieces  to  the  man 
who  only  intended  to  buy  500.  Also 
he  might  have  impressed  upoii  therft 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


145 


that  he  couldn't  get  out  the  required 
amount  of  sample  work  in  the  time 
specified,  but  if  given  a  reasonable 
amount  of  time,  he  could  do  justice 
to  everything  and  all  concerned  and 
leave  everybody  well  pleased  in  the 
end.  How  often  is  heard  the  remark, 
"How  much  better  it  would  have  been 
to  have  taken  another  d-ay  and  had 
these  things  right,"  and  where  does  it 
better  apply  than  here.  Again  I  say, 
let  the  designer  meet  and  talk,  as  often 
as  possible,  with  the  men  who  are 

LIKELY  TO  BUY 
his  creations  and  he  will  likely  learn 
that  certain  buyers,  as  a  rule,  season 
after  season,  will  lean  toward  certain 
effects,  or  characters  of  styles,  and  as  a 
consequence,  he  can  develop  his  styles 
more  strongly  along  these  lines  for 
these  particulars  buyers,  thus  making 
his  work  much  more  pleasing  to  them 
and  simpler  for  himself.  This  is  cited 
as  only  one  of  the  many  things  gained 
by  sending  the  designer  to  New  York 
occasionally. 

In  an  article  appearing  in  the  Amer- 
ican Wool  and  Cotton  Reporter,  is- 
sue of  June  9,  Mr.  Walter  Slade  re- 
marks in  part  as  follows: 
**What  we  need  in  most  of 
our  worsted  mills  to-day  is  a 
more  thorough  co-operation  between 
the  owner,  superintendent,  designer 
and  finisher.  Every  detail  of  a  fabric 
should  be  an  open  book  to  all  of  them, 
and  every  man's  idea  should  be  given 
the  most  careful  consideration.  The 
designer's  position  in  the  mill  should 
be  pre-eminent.  A  premium  ought  to 
be  put  on  his  efforts  and  every  incen- 
tive given  him  to  become  an  original 
designer  and  not  a  copyist. 

Since  the  advent  of  styles  and  mill 
men  at  the  selling  end,  there  seems  to 
be  a  disposition  to  ignore  the  possibili- 
ties of  original  work  by  the  mill  de- 
signer. This  is  all  wrong.  Give  me 
a  good  live  designer  and  let  me  have 
him  in  New  York  once  a  month  and  I 
will  guarantee  the  dividends  of  a  mill 
will  increase  so  that  the  owner  can 


take  his  family  to  Europe  in  the  sum- 
mer and  Florida  in  the  winter*'. 
Grive  your  designer  a  chance  to  be  orig- 
inal and  see  what  he  will  do  for  you. 

No.  98. 


THE  KNOWLES 

STOP-MOTION. 


The  Knowles  stop-motion  as  used 
on  heavy  woolen  and  worsted  looms 
is  a  good  one.  One  fault  which  often 
gives  loom-fixers  and  sometimes  weav- 
ing overseers  quite  a  deal  of  trouble, 
is  that  on  some  kinds  of  work,  es- 
pecially fine  dress  goods  and  soft, 
loosely  woven  woolens,  the  feeler 
wires  will  tear  into  the  cloth  when 
the  shipper  handle  is  knocked  off. 
Thie  writer  has  seen  fixers  some- 
times spend  days  working  on  one 
troublesome  loom  acting  like  this. 

The  fixer  would  set  the  stop-motion 
stand  too  low  in  an  endeavor  to  over- 
come the  trouble  and  then  be  forced 
by  the  loom  not  stopping  on  mispick 
to  raise  it  again,  when  the  tearing 
would  recommence.  Many  devices, 
such  as  nails,  wires,  etc.,  have  been 
used  in  an  endeavor  to  overcome  the 
trouble,  and  may  be  found  attached 
to  looms  on  almost  any  section  of 
the  latter  in  different  mills.  We  recall 
a  young  fixer  in  a  large  woolen  mill, 
where  the  goods  began  to  change  to  a 
loosely  woven  style,  going  to  the  boss 
weaver  (one  of  the  best  known  In 
the  business),  and  telling  his  trouble 
with  a  loom.  The  boss  told  him  that 
"any  fool  could  fix  that  in  ten  min- 
utes". 

NO  SIMPLE  TASK. 
The  overseer  tackled  the  loom  him- 
self and  spent  the  better  part  of  four 
days  working  on  it,  finally  fastening 
a  strip  of  hoop  iron  to  the  breast 
beam  extending  forward  under  the 
cloth  so  as  to  be  over  the  feeler 
wires  when  the  lay  was  up  to  the 


146 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTION^. 


cloth,  thus  making  it  impossible  for 
the  wires  to  catch. 

The  writer  has  used  a  method  of 
overcoming  this  which  he  has  never 
seen  anyone  else  use  save  fixers  who 
have  adopted  it  after  seeing  it  used 
on  sections  where  he  has  worked. 

This  tearing  of  the  cloth  is  caused 
by  the  guard  slide  (which  protects 
the  knock-off  parts  from  engagement 
Vv'hen  the  loom  is  started  for  the  first 
pick  without  filling  under  the 
feeler  wires),  throwing  up  the  knock- 
ofj*  sword  and  feeler  wires  as  the  lay 
is  receding  from  the  cloth,  through 
the  shipper  handle  being  thrown  off. 

My  practice  is  to  unbolt  the  entire 
stop-motion  stand  from  the  breast 
beam,  take  it  to  the  bench-vise  and 
without  removing  any.  of  the  parts,  to 
alter  by  filing  the  shape  of  'the  guard 
elide  as  shown  below: 


Outline  of  guard  slide  after  filing  shown  by 

lines.  The  dotted  outline  shows  the  original 
Fhape.  The  heavy  shaded  portion  is  the  dou- 
ble thickness  at  the  heel.  It  will  be  observed 
that  about  %  or  5-16  inch  has  been  cut  away 
from  top  of  the  heel  (A),  also  that  the  shoulder 
(B>  has  been  brought  forward  about  %  inch. 

To  make  this  alteration,  requires 
only  a  good  file  and 

A  FEW  MINUTES  TIME. 
The  stop-motion  stand  may  be 
grasped  by  the  bench-vise  with  the 
guard  slide  up  to  its  highest  set  in 
its  diagonal  rivet  slot,  C.  It  may  be 
best  held  that  way  with  the  slide  fac- 
ing the  fixer  by  putting  a  short  piece 
of  iron  half  an  inch  thick  and  five  or 
six  inches  long  (a  wrench  or  piece  of 
picker  spindle  will  serve),  against  the 
slide  between  the  rivet  slots  C,  and 
also  resting  against  the  part  of  the 
stand  which  carries  on  its  opposite 
side  the    knock-off    casting    No.  8. 


Don't  put  any  more  pressure  on  the 
vise  than  necessary  to  hold  the  parts, 
and  there  will  be  no  danger  of  break- 
age if  judgment  and  care  is  used  in 
setting  the  castings. 

When  thus  altered,  the  stop-motion 
may  be  replaced  on  the  loom  and  set 
high  enough  to  make  its  action  certain 
when  the  filling  breaks,  and  there 
will  be  no  more  tearing  of  the  cloth. 
Ihe  spring  from  shipper-rod  which 
throws  up  the  guard,  should,  of  course, 
strike  no  harder  than  necessary  to 
raise  it  properly  when  loom  is  stopped. 

We  think   it  would   improve  this 
stop-motion    if    the    Knowles  Loom 
Works  would  make  this  slight  change 
in  its  design.  No.  99. 
 ^  » »  

ROUGHNESS  IN  GOODS. 


As  a  rule,  when  goods  are  exam- 
ined and  found  imperfect  through  be- 
ing shaded,  the  weaver  is  blamed  fo^ 
the  trouble,  as  it  is  considered  poor 
weaving.  Of  course,  some  shades  are 
caused  by  the  loom,  but  not  all,  such 
as  pickouts.  When  a  weaver  has  had 
cause  to  pick  out  for  an  imperfection 
and  does  not  get  the  proper  tension 
on  the  warp  when  he  starts  up  again, 
there  is  a  bar  straight  across  the 
piece  from  side  to  side,  gradually 
shading  off  until  the  warp  has  at 
tained  the  proper  tension,  these  shades 
differing  sometimes.  Shades  are  caused 
by  the  action  of  the  warp  beam  If  it 
is  bent  or  a  little  out  of  line,  or  if 
the  tension  bands  are  not  working 
right  and  the  take-up  or  let-off  are  not 
correct,  all  of  which  can  be  fixed  in 
a  very  short  time;  but  if  the  piece 
still  continues  to  be 

SHADED  IN  THE  LOOM, 

it  is  not  the  weaver's  fault. 

The  filling  must  be  uneven,  and  to 
remedy  this,  you  must  go  to  the  pick- 
ing room.  If  the  cards  are  in  good 
running  condition  and  taking  care 
of  the  stock  without  throwing  out  too 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


147 


much  short  stock  at  the  sides  of  the 
cards,  the  trouble  can  be  caused  hy 
uneven  mixing  of  the  stock  in  the 
picking  room.  If  the  shoddy  is  too 
coarse  for  the  wool  or  the  wool  too 
coarse  for  the  shoddy,  or  if  the  per- 
centage of  wool  is  too  small  to  mix 
regular  with  the  shoddy,  the  result 
will  be  uneven  yarn,  and  this  will 
cause  roughness  in  the  goods.  The 
remedy  for  the  above  is  a  perfect 
blending  of  stock  and  not  too  small 
a  percentage  of  wool  and  great  care 
taken  in  the  mixing  up  of  a  batch 
for  the  mixing  picker.        No.  100. 

FAULTS  IN  MIXING  AND 
CARDING. 


There  is  one  big  mistake  in  the  way 
some  carders  mix  and  blend  their  cot- 
ton. For  instance,  in  some  places 
they  sample  the  cotton  and  then  take 
three  or  four  or  any  number  of  bales 
of  different  marks  and  mix  it  right  in 
the  picker,  which  I  think  is  a  poor 
way,  as  your  bales  may  all  differ  in 
quality  and  staple,  also  in  color.  If 
the  carder  could  only  pay  a  little 
more  attention  to  this  thing,  it  would 
pay  him.  It  seems  to  me 
that  the  biggest  trouble  in  near- 
ly all  of  the  cotton  mills 
to-day  is  mixing  and  blending. 
The  best  method  I  know  of, 
is  to  lay  up  a  mixing  as  large 
as  you  possibly  can  to  last 
a  month  or  six  weeks  or  more, 
if  room  will  permit,  the  larger  the 
better,  as  every  small  mixing  causes 
some  slight  difference  in  quality  and 
color.  Not  only  is  a  small  mixing  bad 
in  this  manner,  but  where  yarn  is 
sold  these  variations  tend  to  excite 
suspicion  regarding  the  good  faith  of 
the  producer  to  the  customer.  This 
suspicion  will  place  any  spinning  at 
a  disadvantage  in  the  market,  and 
tend  to  reduce  the  profits  of  the  mill 
In  laying  down  a  mixing,  the  cotton 
should  be  taken  from  the  bales  and 


shaken  loose  upon  the  floor,  covering 
an  area  suitable  to 

THE  INTENDED  SIZE 

of  the  mixing.  When  a  layer  of  the 
first  kind  of  cotton  has  been  put  down 
in  this  manner,  another  of  the  second 
kind  should  be  laid  upon  it,  if  the 
quantities  of  the  different  sorts  are 
equal,  taking  care  to  have  your  layers 
about  the  same  thickness.  After  this, 
the  third  sort  should  bo  laid  on  top, 
and  so  on  until  you  have  used  up  all 
that  should  be  included  in  the  mixing. 

When  you  commence  to  put  this 
through  the  pickers,  start  from  the 
top  of  the  mixing  and  pull  down  to  the 
bottom  and  you  get  a  little  of  every 
bale  right  through  the  mixing  until  ii 
is  all  used  up.  If  you  should  happen 
to  have  one  or  two  bad  bales  in  the 
lot,  it  will  hardly  tell  on  the  spinner 
if  it  is  pulled  from  the  mixing  the 
way  it  is  explained.  A  little  skill  and 
careful  attention  to  this  thing  will 
bring  better  results  all  round.  First, 
your  laps  will  weigh  out  more  even, 
which  means  a  more  even  sliver  from 
the  card;  second,  you  will  get  better 
sizings  and  m.ore  even  work  from  your 
drawings,  and  third,  your  slubbers  will 
turn  off  better  work  and  so  on  right 
through  the  whole  mill,  if  the  mixing 
is  started  right. 

Another  bad  fault  is  the  card 
clothing  in  the  carding  room.  It 
Is  a  recognized  fact  that  the  quality 
of  yarn  produced  in  a  mill  depends 
mor^  on  the  proper  treatment  of  the 
material  in  the 

CARDING  PROCESS 
than  in  any  other.  The  cot- 
ton may  be  good  and  the  carding  en- 
gines the  best,  yet  the  prod- 
uct may  be  quite  unsatisfac- 
tory. Cylinders  and  doffers  are  often 
covered  with  cards  that  have  not  been 
properly  conditioned,  wnen,  though  put 
on  the  cylinder  tightly,  they  soon  be- 
come flabby  and  loose,  simply  Decause 
the  tem.perature  of  the  room  where 
they  are  working  is  much  higher  than 
the    room  from    which  they  were 


14S 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


brought.  In  order  to  prevent  this,  the 
best  way  to  do  is  to  expose  all  the 
cards  that  are  intended  to  be  nailed 
on  for  several  days  and  nights,  in  a 
room  about  the  same  temperature  as 
the  room  where  they  are  going  to 
work;  in  fact,  a  little  higher  tempera- 
ture will  not  hurt  them,  as  I  think  it 
will  make  them  lay  on  the  cylinder  bet- 
ter when  they  shrink  on  a  little.  They 
should  then  be  wound  on  the  cylinder 
or  doffer  under  a  moderate  and  uni- 
form strain,  and  after  you  have  fast- 
ened each  end  they  should  be  left 
alone  for  an  hour  or  two  before  the 
intermediate  nailing  is  done;  by  that 
time  the  cards  will  have  fitted  or  bed- 
ded themselves  into  their  ultimate  po- 
sition. After  this  has  been  done,  there 
will  be  a  slight  and  uniform  contrac- 
tion which  will  bring  the  card  into  its 
best  condition  for  producing  high- 
class  work  and  ensuring  durability. 

No.  101. 



THAT  AUTOMATIC  FLOCK 
BOX. 


Ed.  American  Woot-.  &  Cotton  Reporter: 
The  other  week  I  had  the  pleas^ure 
of  seeing  my  article  recommending 
an  automatic  flock  box  for  fulling 
mills  discussed  by  **No.  51'*  and  then, 
in  his  poor  way,  as  he  calls  it,  thrown 
down  and  out  as  too  much  trouble 
and  impractical.  He  says  begin  al 
the  root  of  the  matter  and  stop  the 
goods  from  chafing.  Now  what  has 
flocking  goods  got  to  do  with 
goods  chafing.  I  fail  to  see  why  **No. 
51"  should  mention  the  box  at  all.  He 
certainly  gives  no  hint  of  how  to  flock 
the  goods  heavily  and  have  them  take 
U7ider  the  conditions  I  mentioned  in 
my  article.  If  he  did  this  and  handed 
us  something  that  would  remove  the 
difiiculty  I  would  certainly  take  my 
hat  off  to  him. 

If  he  would  write  ai.  article  on  goods 
chafing  and  give  the  cause  or  causes, 
it  would  be  something  beneficial  to 


the  trade.  I  know  of  several  causes 
for  goods  chafing.  I  am  acquainted 
with  several  makes  of  fulling  mills 
and  have  made  a  special  study  of  that 
department,  and  run  fulling  mills  on 
all  classes  of  goods  myself. 

Here  are  a  few  of  the  causes  of 
chafing:  First,  running  too  dry; 
second,  draughts  from  windows  or 
doors;  third,  short  stock;  fourth,  goods 
shrunk  or  felted  excessively;  the  last 
cause  is  irremedial,  but  draughts 
should  be  stopped  either  by  clos- 
ing up  the  fulling  mills  or  the  windows 
or  doors.  But  in  any  case  keep  a 
dipper  and  a  pail  of  soap  handy,  and 
as  soon  as  the  goods  begin  to  throw 
off,  just  sprinkle  a  very  little  soap  on 
slowly  so  as  to  go  all  around  the 
piece.  This  stops  it  for  the  time  being 
and  has  to  be  repeated  as  often  as  it 
occurs. 

Now  the  best  thing  to  do  with  a 
man  who  lets  his  goods  chafe  more 
than  can  be  helped  is  to  discharge 
him. 

Reverting  to  the  flock  box,  *'No.  51" 
admits  that  it  would  be  a  good  thing, 
but  the  midnight  oil,  etc.,  is  against 
it.  I  would  like  to  ask,  did  he  ever  see 
anything  that  was  worth  while  that 
did  not  take  study  and  work  in  its 
creation?  Besides  coming  back  to 
this  chafing  business,  it  would  pre- 
vent the  goods  from  wasting,  by  not 
putting  in  any  more  flocks  than  the 
goods  require,  which,  by  the  way,  is 
another  cause  of  goods  chaflng. 

No.  102. 

 ^4--t^  • 

THE  SUPERINTENDENT. 


As  iron  sharpeneth  iron  so  does  the 
countenance  of  man  a  friend;  like- 
wise, as  face  answers  to  face  in  water 
so  does  the  heart  of  man  to  man,  there- 
fore, while  we  learn  manufacturing  by 
experience,  which  is  the  only  way  and 
the  best  teacher,  however,  exchange 
of  thoughts  and  ideas  is  very 
beneficial  and  a  wonderful  help  to  th^ 


TEXTILE 


DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


149 


industry.  Regarding  the  subject 
Defects  and  Suggestions,  or 
the  best  way  to  remedy  trouble  in 
a  mill  so  that  manufacturers  may  be 
more  successful,  a  great  deal  has  been 
said. 

The  carding  department  has  been 
well  covered,  as  in  fact  have  all  other 
departments  in  the  contest  of  over  a 
year  ago,  and  while  it  w^as  clearly  set 
forth  then  how  to  obtain  the  best  re- 
sults in  each  department,  nevertheless 
there  are  mills  running  to-day  at  a 
loss  or  barely  able  to  exist.  Since 
the  trouble  is  not  the  fault  of  the 
foremen,  as  they  have  struggled  and 
worked  and  exhausted  their  skill  with 
the  results  unsatisfactory.  Conse- 
quently we  must  look  somewhere  else 
for  the  cure  of  defects  and  the  remedy 
that  will  bring  success  to  those  mills. 
Let  me  say  here  that  a  woolen  mill 
differs  greatly  from  a  saw  mill  or  a 
stone  quarry.     While  politeness  and 

TACT  WITH  PUSH, 
will  run  a  store,  and  know- 
ing one  or  two  things  will  run  a 
stone  quarry  or  saw  mill,  these  qualifi- 
cations alone  will  not  run  a  woolen 
mill.  A  superintendent  wants  them 
and  more  too.  It  is  all  right  to  go  to 
a  school  and  learn  to  be  a  designer 
but  a  superintendent  must  know  still 
more.  It  may  be  all  right 
to  take  a  course  of  studies 
through  a  correspondent  school  to  fit 
one  for  a  superintendent  but  that  is 
not  sufficient.  As  I  said  before  a  true 
Knowieage  requires  experience.  A 
superintendent  needs  to  be  a  practical 
man  in  every  detail,  one  in  deed  and  in 
truth,  and  not  a  make-believe  one.  It 
has  been  my  lot  or  misfortune  to  run 
up  against  quite  a  number  of  the 
latter.  I  firmly  believe  if  there  is 
one  thing  above  another  that  a  super- 
intendent should  know  it  is 

HOW  TO  SELECT  STOCK, 
tell  its  strength,  and  know  what  stock 
is  adopted  for  different  runs  or  grades 
cf  yarn.    When  he  knows  this,  one 


defect  will  be  remedied  which  will  pre- 
vent many  more.  He  should  know 
how  stock  should  be  handled  and  pre- 
pared in  the  picking  room  and  place 
the  supervision  of  that  important  part 
under  one  who  knows.  He  should 
have  a  good  thorough  knowledge  of 
carding,  also  of  spinning,  as  well  as  of 
the  other  departments.  Some  one 
may  say  we  get  good  practical  men 
for  their  respective  departments.  That 
is  all  right,  and  it  is  the  only  thing 
you  should  do,  but  what  can  even  such 
men  do  under  unfavorable  conditions. 

Some  few  years  ago  a  superinten- 
dent was  making  some  fine  goods, 
and  as  he  wanted  a  particular  shade 
he  used  a  few  pounds  of  coarse  wool. 
I  told  him  it  would  make  his  yarn 
twilly  and  uneven.  He  thought  it 
would,  be  all  right,  however.  Some  time 
later  the  boss  weaver  called  me  to 
the  perch.  I  asked  him  in  what  lot 
the  trouble  was.  He  told  me  and  I 
was  not  at  all  surprised  to  find  that 
it  was  the  very  identical  lot.  Of 
course,  I  went  to 

THE  SUPERINTENDENT 

and  told  him.  Then  he  was  angry  at 
the  boss  weaver  because  he  called 
me  to  the  perch.  I  know  of  several 
mills  that  have  failed  or  shut  down, 
because  the  management  was  lackine 
in  knowledge  and  the  owners  did  not 
know  but  that  their  superintendent 
was  all  right.  If  I  wish  to  be  personal 
I  could  give  you  the  name  of  the 
owner  of  a  7-set  mill,  also  his  super- 
intendent's name,  where  I  had  the 
following  experience. 

This  mill  was  shut  down  the  last 
time  I  heard  from  it,  and  the  owner 
had  told  me  his  superintendent  knew 
the  business  from  A  to  Z.  He  was  a 
very  good  designer  and  that  was  about 
all.  The  picker  room  was  not  under 
the  carder,  and  as  batch  after  batch 
came  up  to  the  card  room,  I  would 
ask  the  superintendent  what  was  the 
matter  with  the  wool  and  he  would 
invariably  tell  me  that  it  was  the  best 


150 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


he  could  buy.  After  a  while  I  began 
to  visit  the  picking  room  and  the  way 
the  burr  picker  and  mixing  picker 
worked  was  surprising.    I  am 

NOT  EXAGGERATING 

one  single  bit  when  I  say  on  examin- 
ing the  burr  cylinder  you  or  I  could 
not  tell  but  that  it  was  a  plain  metal 
roll.  It  was  as  smooth  as  glass  and 
not  a  tooth  could  be  found.  After  that 
cylinder  was  fixed  I  need  not  tell  you 
the  results.  Then  I  noticed  the  stock 
was  unevenly  oiled  and  I  could  hardly 
keep  the  weight  right.  Going  into 
the  picker  room  one  day  I  found  them 
oiling  a  batch  of  wool  by  making  a 
layer  of  wool  from  31  to  4  feet  deep 
on  the  floor  and  then  putting  the  oil 
on  in  proportion  to  that  amount  of 
wool.  Some  time  after,  the  superin- 
tendent being  away,  the  proprietor 
came  to  me  to  find  out  why  the  yarn 
was  uneven.  I  told  him  if  he  would 
2:et  the  picker  man  to  take  more  care 
in  oiling,  I  could  give  him  better  re- 
sults. He  said  a  firm  was  trying  to 
sell  him  an  oiler  and  he  had  been 
told  the  same  thing  by  them.  Well, 
before  the  superintendent  got  back 
the  gentleman  told  me  the  yarn  was 
coming  much  better  and  more  even. 

Now  for  another  experience  in  the 
same  mill.  Mr.  Samuel  Came  was  the 
boss  spinner  and  I  was  doing  the 
carding  and  the  work  ran  well  and 
was  very  satisfactory.  Mr.  Came  left 
and  a  new  spinner  took  his  place  and 
the  yarn  got  so  bad  that  they  actually 
tore  up  a  warp  of  over  400  yards. 
Another  time  I  was  called  down  to 
see  the  work  that  was  going  bad.  I 
went  up  stairs,  found  the  machines 
working  all  right,  took  down  two 
spools,  and  asked  the  girl  what  she 
was  spinning.  She  said  they  were 
trying  to  make  hard  twist  out  of  the 
wrong  stock,  and  besides,  the  mule  was 
not  adapted  for  it,  as  the  rollers  were 
too  light.  Of  course,  I  went  to  their 
superintendent  and  he  had  me  send 
him  the  boss  spinner.    Matters  were 


adjusted  and  I  heard  nothing  more 
about  the  bad  batch. 

Another  time  he  called  my  attention 
to  some  good  yarn  and  said,  **that  is 
not  near  as  good  stock  as  you  are 
running."  I  looked  at  it  and 
on  the  top  of  the  pill  was  a  bobbin 
with  the  lot  number  and  date.  1 
compared  it  with  my  book  and  found 
it  was  Mr.  Game's  spinning  and  my 
carding.  I  took  that  to  the  superin- 
tendent also,  and  after  comparing 
the  figures  with  my  book  he  turned 
to  me,  and  said,  "you  have  a  good 
case,  get  after  him."  I  replied  that 
it  was  not  my  business  to  get  after 
him.  He  turned  in  his  chair  angry 
and  said:  "You  and  he  fix  that  up. 
I  am  here  to  tell  you."  I  surely  did. 
I  explained  matters  to  the  spinner, 
and  as  I  had  told  him  time  and  again 
he  was  running  the  carriage  too  fast 
for  the  rolls  and  drawing  the  yarn 
into  thin  places  he  had  better  put 
things  back  where  he  got  them.  I 
think  that  was 

THE  LAST  TROUBLE 

we  had  or  at  least  that  I  heard  about. 
Now  let  me  say  here  there  is  no  use 
in  saying  more  along  that  line  to 
point  out  defects.  I  could  give  you 
mill  after  mill  with  nearly  the  same 
experience  which  would  convince  any 
sane  man  that  the  defects  are  not 
altogether  with  the  machinery  as  it 
is  with  the  powers  that  be.  Now  if 
that  superintendent  had  known  his 
business  none  of  the  above  defects 
and  difficulties  would  have  occurred 
for  he  could  have  been  able  to  have 
detected  the  trouble. 

Time  would  fail  me  and  the  readers 
would  tire  if  I  were  to  tell  of  the  diffi- 
culties and  defects  caused  by  poor 
stock,  imperfections  caused  in  the 
dressing  room,  finishing  room,  and  the 
other  departments,  and  continuing  so 
on  account  of  the  head  not  being  able 
to  discover  the  cause  and  apply  the 
remedy.  When  a  superintendent  is 
passing  through  the  spinning  room  he 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


151 


should  be  able  to  tell  if  the  carriage 
is  running  too  fast  or  too  slow; 
and  when  in  any  other  department  he 
should  be  able  to  detect  any  defect 
that  might  happen  to  be  there.  A 
man  on  the  bank  is  worth  two  in  the 
ditch.  Besides  detecting  defects  in  the 
different  rooms,  when  examining  a 
piece  of  goods  at  the  perch,  he  should 
be  able  to  detect  the  cause  of  the 
majority  of  defects  that  may  appear. 

I  remember  one  case  where  I  went 
to  do  the  carding.  I  was  called  down 
to  be  shown  why  they  had  exchanged 
carders.  As  the  goods  were  drawn 
over  the  perch,  the  imperfections  were 
pointed  out.  I  readily  showed  them 
that  the  carder  was  not  to  blame,  and 
I  demonstrated  clearly  to  the  super- 
intendent boss  weaver  (he  is  now  in 
charge  of  a  10-set  mill),  and  finished 
that  it  was  not  the  carder's  fault.  For 
instance  a  spool  may  have  a  bent 
spindle  and  it  goes  by  jerks  and  will 
not  run  free,  or  for  some  cause  one 
spool  will  run  much  harder  than  an- 
other. On  running  a  section  too  close 
to  the  pins  on  the  reel  while  dressing, 
a  warp  will  make  shaded  goods  as 
well  as  uneven  gigging.  Streaked 
goods  can  be  made  on  the  shears. 
Sometimes  goods  are  hurt  by  steam- 
ing the  bobbin  to  death.  Yes,  and  I 
will  say  that  the  wool  chopped  up  in 
the  picker  and  card  rooms  will 
not  finish  up  good  in  the  piece. 

NOW  WHAT  IS  THE  REMEDY? 

A  superintendent  at  the  head  who 
knows  every  detail  about  the  business 
from  the  selection  and  testing  of  stock 
for  the  different  grades  of  goods 
through  every  stage  of  its  manufac- 
ture until  ready  for  the  case,  a 
Napoleon  in  the  business,  and  as 
Napoleon  studied  and  acquainted  him- 
self with  all  the  details  of  his  army, 
so  a  superintendent  should  be  familiar 
with  every  detail  about  the  mill,  and 
I  am  not  unconvinced  that  to  remedy 
the  defects  a  superintendent  should 
undergo  a  rigid  examination,  more  so 
than  an  engineer.  No.  103. 


BETTER  SYSTEM 

OF  DRESSING. 


To  weave  woolen  or  worsted  cloth 
and  get  it  perfect,  it  is  necessary  that 
all  parts  of  the  preparations  and  dress- 
ing of  warps  be  done  in  a  proper  and 
careful  manner.  The  essentials  in  a 
well-dressed  warp  are,  first,  that  each 
thread  lay  continually  in  a  relative 
parallel  position  throughout  the  whole 
length  of  warp,  and  that  no  threads 
at  any  point  cross  each  other.  Sec- 
ond, that  each  thread  is  dressed  of  a 
uniform  equal  length,  having  neither 
tight  nor  slack  places,  but  air  threads 
of  an  equal  tension.  The  first  essen- 
tial is  most  easily  obtained  by  using 
a  fine  front  reed,  set  as  close  to  reel 
as  possible,  and  yarns  reeded  to  a 
proper  width  to  fill  up  space  between 
the  pins  on  reel  without  twisting  reel 
head  or  piling  yarn  up  on  pins,  and 
beaming  with  beam  as  close  as  pos- 
sible to  reel.  The  second  essential  is 
much  more  difficult  to  obtain.  Assum- 
ing that  the  yarn  is  of  a  uniform  size 
and  a  good  level  thread,  it  will  have 
to  be  spooled  with  an  equal  tension 
on  each  thread,  and  of  a  uniform 

•DISTRIBUTION    ON  SPOOL. 

Tight  and  slack  threads,  whether  as 
separate  threads  or  in  groups  of 
threads,  are  the  source  from  whicL 
we  have  our  greatest  trouble  in  the 
weaving  of  cloth.  The  slack  thread  is 
not  only  woven  out  too  prominently,  but 
it  does  not  carry  it's  share  of  the 
strain  on  warp  in  the  weaving,  and  is 
really  a  heavier  thread  in  the  cloth 
The  tight  thread  or  threads  are  woven 
in  under  undue  strain.  This  strain 
prevents  the  threads  from  appearing 
on  the  face  of  the  cloth  in  proper 
weight;  they  are  also  covered  up  by 
the  filling  and  neighboring  warp 
threads,  and  a  tight  thread  is  really  a 
finer   thread,   with   insufficient  twist 


152 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


and  will  probably  break  a  great  deal 
in  the  weaving. 

Slack  or  tight  threads  in  a  warp  are 
a  common  product  of  our  system  of 
dressing  from  jack  spools.  These  de- 
fects may  be  caused  in  the  spooling 
by  a  defective  guide  or  faulty  tra- 
verse adjustment,  or  through  the  jack 
spools  not  being  properly  washered, 
or  waste  gathering  in  pigtails,  or  by 
spoolers  being  equipped  with  imper- 
fect rollers,  or  rollers  not  weighted 
right,  or  yarn  spooled  with  open  roll- 
ers, or  by  threads  being  allowed  to 
run  out,  making  holes  in  spools,  or 
by  drums  that  are  not  of  a  uniform 
diameter,  or  by  uneven  yarn,  or  by 
each  side  of  spool  not  being  evenly 
weighted,  bad  jack  ir^pool  bodies  or 
heads,  or  thread  getting  out  of 

PIGTAILS  IN  THE  SPOOLING. 
In  dressing  there  will  be  from  10  to 
18  jack  spools  used  in  the  dressing  of 
a  warp,  having  40  to  48  ends  each. 
Each  spool  rests  on  the  arbour  at 
each  end  of  spool,  on  the  body  of 
spool  rests  a  paddle,  which  is  weight- 
ed with  an  adjustable  weight.  This 
weight  is  adjusted  to  produce  the  right 
tension  for  spools  of  all  sizes,  and 
this  is  a  very  nice  point,  as  there  are 
no  rules  that  can  be  laid  down  as  to 
the  weight  suitable  for  spools  of 
various  sizes.  The  difference  between 
the  weight  necessary  to  a  full  spool 
and  the  weight  necessary  to  a  spool 
only  10  per  cent  full,  is  very  great, 
and  the  weight  is  determined  by  a 
guess;  in  other  words,  10  to  18 
guesses. 

To  minimize  the  probable  variation 
in  tensions,  the  yarn  is  run  through 
a  drag  roll,  but  this  is  bad  of  itself, 
as  it  again  produces  a  variable  condi- 
tion in  the  take  up  of  reel,  and  gives 
us  high  and  low  sections;  in  other 
words,  tight  and  slack  groups  of 
threads,  and,  again,  if  broken  spools 
are  used,  if  it  is  to  the  quarter,  third 
or  half  of  spool,  we  again  require  the 
operator  to  use  his  best  judgment, 
properly  speaking,  his  best  guess  as 


to  the  adjusting  of  weight.  There  are 
few  dressers  who  can  dress  a  warp 
under  these  conditions,  without  slack 
or  tight  places,  and  again  we  have  the 
running  of  bobbins  from  the  floor  fill- 
ing, or  twist  bobbins,  with 

IRREGULAR  TENSION. 

When  a  warp  is  on  the  reel  there  is 
little  that  can  be  done  to  modify  bad 
conditions  of  dressing.  The  spools  in 
the  rack  may  not  have  been  run  uni- 
formerly  weighted,  some  spools  run 
tighter  than  others,  tight  threads  on 
spools  allowed  to  run  in,  side  threads 
piled  up  run  slack  on  to  warp,  broken 
threads  allowed  to  run  till  piled  up  on 
spool,  on  being  tied  up  the  thread  con- 
tinues to  run  slack,  the  numerous  de- 
fective conditions  that  are  likely  to 
develop  under  the  jack  spool  method 
are  allowed  to  continue,  and  there  is 
no  remedy  after  warp  is  once  on  reel, 
therefore,  the  remedy  for  the  defec- 
tive dressing  is  the  elimination  of  the 
jack  spool  system. 

I  would  suggest  to  the  reader  to  go 
into  any  dressing  room,  running  on 
dry  work,  and  put  his  hand  on  top  of 
section  yarns  as  they  pass  through  the 
head  reed,  and  I  will  venture  to  say 
in  most  every  test  he  makes  he  wiU 
find  tight  threads,  and  by  looking  un 
der  the  reed  he  will  see  sagging 
threads,  and  if  he  will  stop  the  ma- 
chine and  pull  back  the  reel  a  few 
inches,  he  will  then  get  a  better  illus- 
tration of  the  varied 

CONDITIONS    OP  TENSION 
of  the  different  threads  in  the  warp. 

The  above  test  could  not  be  made 
on  a  sized  warp,  to  advantage,  as  the 
size  stiffens  up  the  threads,  and,  to  a 
certain  extent,  eliminates  contrast  of 
tension,  but  this  does  not  minimize 
the  different  conditions  of  yarns  in 
warp,  nor  will  the  imperfections  made 
by  tight  and  slack  threads  be  less  ap- 
parent in  the  cloth.  This  is  one  of 
the  reasons  why  we  cannot  make  a 
fabric  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  to 
compare  with  the  imported  cloth. 

In  the  older  countries  dressing  is 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


153 


done  from  cops,  bobbins  or  spools, 
each  thread  being  separately  wound. 
It  is  the  simplest  method,  and  gives 
by  far  the  best  results  in  perfect 
dressing.  The  principal  disadvantage 
is  in  the  productive  value  of  each  ma- 
chine and  operator,  in  that  particul- 
arly with  cops  and  bobbins  there  is 
a  great  deal  of  time  used  in  tieing 
in  bobbins,  as  each  bobbin  or  cop  con- 
tains only  two  ounces  or  less  of  yarn, 
also  the  large  space  occupied  by  bob- 
bin or  cop  creels. 

To  eliminate  this  decidedly  unsatis- 
factory condition,  and  with  a  view  to 
establishing  a  more  perfect  condition 
in  the  dressing  room,  where  fancy 
woolens  and  worsted  and  plain  wool- 
ens are  being  dressed,  the  following 
method  of  dressing  is  suggested.  It 
embodies  the  best  of  the  two  systems, 
the  perfect  control  of  each  individual 
thread,  with  its  simplicity  in  arrange- 
ment of  design  and  ease  with  which 
yarn  can  be  handled  and  dressed,  and 
also  economy  in  the  preparation,  bv 
winding  instead  of  spooling,  and  the 
economy  in  the  dressing  with  the 
tubes  that  contain 

150  PER  CENT  MORE  YARDS 
than  could  be  put  on  a  jack  spool. 

By  taking  advantage  of  the  tube 
winding  system  to  revert  to  the  single 
thread  tension  system  so  prevalent  in 
Europe,  and  so  productive  of  good  re- 
sults, and  by  using  the  tube  in  a  V 
creel,  irregular  tension  is  completely 
eliminated,  and  the  delivery  from  a 
tube  is  uniform  in  the  unwinding  from 
the  full  tube  to  the  run  out. 

The  tube  has  no  head  to  intensify 
the  strain,  as  it  unwinds  to  a  small 
size  as  in  the  case  of  the  spool,  and  i^ 
contains  about  twice  as  much  yarn. 
For  instance,  a  4-inch  tube  6  inches 
long,  contains  2  pounds  of  yarn  in 
woolen,  worsted  or  cotton.  This,  in 
itself,  cancels  the  disadvantage  as  to 
cost  of  labor  and  production,  before 
mentioned.  A  32-inch  jack  spool  will 
hold  not  more  than  33  pounds  of 
woolen  yarn.   When  spooled,  40  threads 


to  the  width,  there  will  be  about  eight 
tenths  of  a  pound  per  single  thread. 

The  cost  to  wind  on  tube  is  some 
33  per  cent  less  than  to  spool  on  jack 
spools,  and  winding  can  be  done  froTD 
skeins  as  well  as  from  bobbins.  This 
would  save  over  a  cent  a  pound  in 
worsteds;  in  fact,  the  cost  of  jack 
spooling  fancy  worsteds  will  be  about 
IJ  cents  per  pound,  and  skein  spooling 
1  cent.  Whereas,  tube  winding  will 
not  cost  more  than  1  cent  per  pound, 
effecting  a  saving  of  150  per  cent,  or 
2i  cents  per  pound,  to  prepare  worsted 
yarns  for  dresser. 

A  V-shaped  frame  will  take  up  more 
room  than  the  jack  spool  creel  pres- 
ently in  use,  but  it  seems  that  any  in- 
genious mechanic  could  construct  a 
stand  that  would  meet  all  require- 
ments and  occupy  much  less  room,  but 
the  question  of  space  is  of  small  con- 
sideration when  compared  with  the 
great  advantage  of  the  system.  A  V 
creel,  suitable  for  dressing  a  6  x  4  inch 
tube,  holding  644  tubes,  will  extend 
111  feet  19  rows,  16  spools  each  row, 
uprights  7  inches  apart  and  5  inches 
between  steps,  322  on  each  wing.  In 
this  method  there  will  be 

NO  CALCULATING 
number  of  threads  to  the  spool  or  for 
length,  nor  scheming  out  pattern 
spools  for  every  warp,  nor  exceptional 
skill  required  in  the  spooling  of  yarn. 
Yarns  for  grounds,  such  as  black, 
blue,  brown,  grey,  etc.,  will  be  wound 
to  2  pounds  net,  tubes  and  special  yarn 
to  size*  of  tube  wanted,  package  of  a 
given  size  can  very  easily  be  esti- 
m.ated. 

There  will  not  be  any  call  to  pick 
a  pattern  as  the  tie-in  in  the  creel  will 
determine  the  design,  and  can  be  ef- 
fected much  quicker  than  the  jack 
spool  method.  A  tie-in  of  a  fancy  pat- 
tern, taking  500  threads,  need  not  take 
more  than  one  hour,  that  is,  if  every 
thread  has  to  be  tied  out,  but  this  is 
a  feature  in  the  tube  dressing  that 
saves  time  in  very  many  ways.  You 
may  find  that  a  great  deal  of  yam 


154 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


(tubes)  will  be  found  in  its  proper 
place,  although  the  pattern  in  design 
and  section  in  threads  are  radically 
different,  which  will  effect  an  economj 
in  time  of  tying  it. 

Friction  is  to  be  avoided  as  much  as 
possible  in  handling  yarns  made  of. 
wool,  as  repeated  friction  gives  an  un 
desirable  polish  to  the  wool,  par- 
ticularly in  the  case  of  worsted  yarns 
The  skeining  of  the  yarn,  in  addition 
to  jack  spooling  in  the  preparation 
for  dressing,  over-works  the  yarn,  and 
is,  to  a  certain  extent,  detrimental. 
The  conditions  are  aggravated  when 
winding  up  the  pieces  at  the  end  of 
each  lot  of  yarn.  This  is  done  with 
a  great  deal  of 

STRAINING  AND  FRICTION 

on  the  yarn. 

The  ease  with  which  the  tubes  can 
be  used  under  every  condition  is,  in- 
deed, very  satisfactory.  For  instance, 
at  the  close  of  a  lot,  the  pieces  on 
hand  can  be  wound  on  to  a  warp  tube 
or  on  to  filling  bobbins  under  the 
same  favorable  conditions  under 
which  it  is  first  wound.  In  addition, 
the  tube  can  stand  a  great  deal  of 
rough  usage  and  not  be  in  any  way 
impaired.  On  the  contrary,  with  an 
ordinary  spool  you  may  drop  it  on 
the  floor  and  break  one  of  the  heads 
off  and  you  will  find  it  difficult  to 
save  the  spool  of  yarn  from  becoming 
waste.  Among  the  many  good 
points  the  tube  has,  not  least  of  these 
is  its  uniformity  of  resistance  in  un- 
winding. It  is  the  same  at  the  bottom 
as  at  the  top.  This  has  been  proven 
in  many  ways,  and  can  easily  be  un- 
derstood when  you  consider  that  there 
are  no  heads  to  retard  unwinding. 

Spool  heads  act  as  a  sort  of  balance 
wheel,  and  would  be  all  right  if  the 
yards  of  yarn  unwinding  did  not  in 
crease  the  velocity  of  the  spool,  but 
an  empty  spool  of  IJ  inches  hub  would 
have  to  revolve  4  times  to  1  of  a  full 
spool  of  5  inches  in  diameter,  or  in 
other  words,  a  5-inch  spool  in  a  warper 


running  36  revolutions  speed,  that  Is 
54  yards  per  minute,  spool  would  re- 
volve 123  times  when  full,  but  on 
the  unwinding  of  the  last  layer  of 
yarn  on  spool,  the  spool  would  run  at 
a  velocity  of  492  revolutions  per 
minute. 

The  above  suggestions  are 

BASED  ON  ACTUAL  TESTS. 

The  statements  made  as  to 
actual  cost  of  spooling  jack  spools 
and  winding  tubes,  are  in  accordance 
with  actual  conditions.  For  example: 
The  pay  for  spooling  4  run  yarn  Is 
20  cents  100  holes  of  40  threads  per 
spool.  A  hole  is  60  yards  in  length 
of  40  threads,  therefore,  60  yds.  x  40 
threads  equals  2,400  x  100  holes,  equals 
240,000  total  yards  4  run  yarn  contains 
6,400  yards  per  pound;  by  dividing 
240,000  yards  by  6,400  equals  37.5 
pounds;  costs  20  cents  to  spool,  or  .533 
cents  per  pound. 

To  figure  a  drum  winder  to  ascer- 
tain production  per  operator,  speed  of 
machine  150  yards  per  minute.  Ascer- 
tain yards  on  bobbin  from  which  yam 
has  to  be  w^ound,  divide  by  yards  per 
speed,  multiply  quotient  by  4;  product 
will  be  spindles  one  operator  can  run. 
The  cost  of  winding  4  run  yarn  would 
be  figured  as  follows:  2  ounces  4  run 
yarn  equals  800  yards  divided  by  150 
speed  equals  5.33  x  constant  4  (J  of  m.) 
spindles  per  operator  21.32.  Following 
are  the  pounds  production  of 
one  operator  per  hour.  Spindle 
speed  150  yards  one  hour. 
Production  900  yards  10 
hours,  9,000.  Divide  by  6/i0'0  yards 
per  pound  of  4  run  yarn  equals  1.496 
per  spindle  x  22  equals  30.9  pounds 
production  of  10  hours  per  one 
operator. 

In  this  effort  made  to  set  forth  the 
advantage  of  using  tubes  in  prefer- 
ence to  jack  spools  in  dressing,  fancy 
worsted  and  fancy  and  plain  woolen, 
the  points  kept  in  view  were  first,  that 
the  present  method  is  decidedly  bad, 
and  that  now  the  original  reason  for 


TEiXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


155 


its  adoption,  economy  and  production, 
does  not  exist. 

In  the  tube  winder  better  econ- 
omical and  practical  results  are  ob 
tained,  together  with  the  very  best  re- 
sults in  dressing,  in  which  all  the 
aforesaid  essentials  are  met.  When 
these  reforms  are  effected  we  will 
cease  to  hear  of  the  superiority  of 
imported  cloth.  No.  104. 

■  -#-»-^^  

BELTS  AND  BELTING. 


One  of  the  numerous  things,  and 
perhaps  the  most  formidable  one  that 
a  textile  worker  hesitates  to  do  is  to 
sit  down  and  write  to  some  textile 
paper  of  the  numberless  propositions 
that  he  may  have  stumbled  over  dur- 
ing his  many  years  of  practical  expe- 
rience in  the  textile  industry.  Appar- 
ently, he  is  satisfied,  and  thinks  it 
advisable  to  interest  in  such  matters 
the  textile  school  graduate  who  ia 
more  competent  along  such  lines,  and 
finds  it  no  diflftcult  task  to  find  a  rem- 
edy for  any  trouble  that  may  exist. 
Having  read  with  considerable  pleas- 
ure, an  article  in  your  issue  of  Sep- 
tember 7,  on  ''The  Use  and  Abuse  of 
Belting",  I  feel  that  I  should  be  acting- 
the  part  of  a  drone  in  the  textile  bee- 
hive, should  I  fail  to  add  a  little  more 
dope  to  the  belts  in  question.  While 
the  writer  on  the  use  and  abuse  of 
belts  gave  us  many  useful  hints  In 
regard  to  their  care,  no  one  must  ever 
look  upon  the  figures  or  the  theories 
as  things  of  any  value  in  themselves, 
but  only  as  a  means  by  which  all 
kinds  of  men  with  different  equip- 
ment and  different  means,  may  reach  a 
common  end.  The  value  of  all  theories? 
will  be  most  to  those  who  check  each 
one  by  observation  on  their  own  ma- 
chines, and  what  follows  will  be  along 
lines  that  men  may  think  for  them- 
selves. 

Your  Chicopee  correspondent,  who 
is,     beyond    question,     a  practical 


man.  seems  to  be  laboring  under  the 
impression  that  the  one  great  cause 
of  overload  is  due  to  the  fact  that 
^iood,  competent  belt  men  are  not  em- 
ployed.   It  seems  to  be 

A  WELL-ESTABLISHED  RULE 
for  those  higher  up  to  shift 
the  responsibility  to  the  shoul- 
ders of  those  lower  down,  thereby 
throwing  a  cloak  over  their  own  inef- 
ficiency. Power  and  its  transmission 
is  holding  the  attention  of  dreamers 
and  thinkers,  and  a  large  per  cent  of 
the  overload  is  not  the  lack  of  ability 
on  the  part  of  the  belt  man,  but  a 
lack  of  knowledge  or  horse  sense  on 
the  part  of  the  superintendent.  The 
idea  that  a  belt  one  inch  wide,  with 
a  speed  of  1,000  feet  per  minute, 
transmits  one-horse  power.  Is  very 
misleading.  A  belt  should  be 
wide  enough  to  bear  safely,  and  for 
a  reasonable  length  of  time,  the  great- 
est tension  that  will  be  put  upon  it. 
This  will  be  the  tension  of  the  driving 
side.  The  safe  tension  for  single  belts 
may  be  taken  as  60  pounds  per  inch 
of  width.  The  tension  on  the  driving 
side,  however,  does  not  represent  thr 
force  tending  to  turn  the  pulley. 
This  force,  or  the  effective  pull, 
is  the  difference  in  tension  be- 
tween the  driving  side  and  the 
slack  side  of  the  belt.  The  tension 
on  the  driving  side  depends  on  three 
factors,  the  effective  pull  of  the  belt, 
the  coefilcient  of  friction  between  the 
belt  and  pulley,  and  the  size  of  the 
area  of  contact  of  the  belt  on  the 
sm^aller  pulley. 

That  your  readers  may  clearly  un- 
derstand how  to  find  the  horse  power, 
or  the  safe  load  that  a  belt  should 
carry,  it  is  necessary  to  explain  how 
the  arc  of  contact  is  found. 

THE  ARC  OF  CONTACT 
in  degrees,  or  a  fraction  of 
the  circumference  can  be  deter- 
mined, practically,  as  follows:  Stretch 
a  string  over  the  two  pulleys  to  repre- 
sent the  belt,  if  there  be  no  belt  on. 


156 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


Then  take  another  string,  wrap  it 
around  the  small  pulley,  and  cut  it  off 
so  that  the  ends  meet.  This  represents 
the  circumference  of  the  small  pulley. 
Now  take  a  third  string,  hold  one  end 
at  the  beginning  of  the  arc  of  con- 
tact, as  shown  by  the  string  stretched 
around  both  pulleys;  wrap  it  around 
the  smaller  pulley,  and  cut  it  off  at 
the  end  of  the  arc  of  contact.  The 
length  of  this  last  string  represents 
the  length  of  the  arc  of  contact. 

We  now  have  the  proportion:  The 
length  of  the  string  representing  the 
circumference  is  to  the  length  of  the 
string  representing  the  arc  of  contact 
as  360  (the  number  of  degrees  in  a  cir- 
cle) is  to  the  number  of  degrees  in  the 
arc  of  contact.  Whence,  the  number 
of  degrees  in  the  arc  of  contact 
equals  the  quotient  nbtained  by  divid- 
ing the  product  of  the  length  of  the 
arc  of  contact  and  360  by  the  circum- 
ference of  the  pulley.  I  give  below  a 
table  that  will  be  found  accurate  in 
finding  the  horse  power. 

Allowable 

effective 

Arc  covered  by  belt.  pull  per 

Fraction  of     inch  of  width 
Degrees.  circumference.        in  pounds 

90   250  23-0 

1121/2   312  27-4 

120   333  28-8 

135   375  21-3 

150   417  33-8 

1571/2   437  34-9 

180  or  over  500  38-1 

Not  recalling  at  this  time  any  de- 
partment that  would  surpass  the  spin- 
ning in  the  abuse  of  belts,  and  the 
unnecessary  waste  of  power,  I  will  en- 
deavor to  the  best  of  my  ability  to 
show  where  the  cost  of  that  depart- 
ment in  maintenance  is  increased.  Tn 
practice,  it  is  common  to  suppose  that 
if  the  total  drafts  and  doublings  of 
two  drawings  are  so  nearly  alike 
the  result  may  be  regarded  as  equal. 
And  likewise,  if 

TWO  SPINNING  FRAMES 
have  the  same  twist  gauge  point,  or 
constant,    the    horse    power  neces- 
sary to  drive  the  frames  would  be 
equal,  no  matter  what  the  difference 


may  be  in  the  train  of  gears.  It  is  a 
universal  law  in  the  application  of 
machines  that  whenever  there  is  a 
gain  in  power  without  a  corresponding 
increase  in  the  initial  force,  there  is 
a  loss  in  speed.  This  is  true  of  any 
machine. 

In  the  first  place,  let  us  suppose  that 
in  both  frames  the  size  and  number 
of  revolutions  of  the  cylinders  are  the 
same.  On  frame  No.  1,  we  place  a 
six-inch  driving  twist  pulley  on  the 
cylinder,  a  15-inch  driven  twist  pulley 
and  a  215  front  roller  gear.  On 
frame  No.  2,  the  driving  twist  pulley 
is  11  inches,  the  driven  22  inches,  and 
the  front  roller  gear  268.  Now,  the 
belt  speed  on  frame  No.  1  would  be 

3.1416 

 X  429  =  673.5  feet  per  minute.  The 

12 

belt  speed  on  frame  No.  2  would  be 

3.1416 

 X  429  =  12.35      feet  per  minute.  It 

12 

will  be  seen  that  the  number  of  revo- 
lutions of  the  front  roller  in  each 
case  is  the  same,  which  would  be 

429X11X80  429X6X80 

 =  64  revolutions  and  —  64 

268X22  215X15 

revolutions. 

With  the  same  twist  change  gear, 
say  80,  the  gauge  point  in  both  cases 
would  be  equal,  and  consequently,  the 
number  of  turns  would  be  the  same. 
The  arc  of  contact  on  the  smaller 
pulley,  frame  No.  1,  would  be  with 
centres  two  feet  apart  in  each  case. 

360  X  8.60 

 —  i64.2degree?. 

18.85 

The  arc  of  contact  on  smaller  pul- 
ley, frame  No.  2,  would  be 

360  X  15.81 

 =  164.4  degrees. 

34.56 

The  horse  power  of  the 
belt,  frame  No.  1,  follows: 


two-inch 


H.  p.  =  • 


36.6X2X673.5 


33000 


Horse  power,  frame  No.  2,  would 

36.6X2X1235 

equal:    h.  p.  =  2.7  h.  p. 

33000 

When  long  lustre  wools  have  been 


TEXTILE   DEFECTS   AND  SUGGESTiONS, 


157 


spun  on  frames,  with  low  belt  speeds 
I  have  known  belts  to  have  been 
drawn  tight  enough  to  constantly  have 
kept  the  stud  in  a  sprung  condition, 
destroying  the  belts  and 
CAUSING  UNNECESSARY  FRICTION 
At  the  present  time,  so-called 
well-managed  firms  are  lagging 
these  small  pulleys  with  leather, 
and  with  what  results?  The 
crown  of  the  pulley  is  destroyed;  the 
surface  of  the  pulley  becomes  uneven: 
the  belts  rub  against  each  other,  or 
against  the  front  roller  gear.  As  the 
covering  wears  away,  more  twist  is 
inserted  than  is  required,  with  a  cor- 
responding decrease  in  production, 
and  the  driving  belt  is  taken  up  with 
the  expectation  of  bringing  the  roll- 
ers up  to  speed,  adding  more  frictioii 
to  the  bearings  of  the  main  shaft.  If 
this  driving  twist  pulley  be  changed, 
for  one  newly  covered,  a  decrease  in 
the  number  of  turns  takes  place.  When 
yarns  are  required  that  will  burst  or 
spread,  with  as  little  twist  as  possi- 
ble, every  spinner  can  form  in  his 
own  mind  the  amount  of  two-ply  yarn 
that  would  be  made  during  the  sum- 
mer months,  and  also  the  amouat  of 
hard  twisted  yarn  from  belts  slipping 
with  low  belt  speeds.  What  receives 
very  little  consideration  is  this  fact, 
that  while  it  may  be  said  that  the 
belt  speed  remains  the  same,  any  in- 
crease in  the  change  gears  indirectly 
decreases  the  belt  speed,  also  its  pow- 
er, and  to  make  it  more  clear,  we  will 
compare  with  a  combination  of  pul- 
leys, fixed  and  movable,  or 

BLOCK  AND  TACKLE. 
We  will  suppose  that  there  are 
three  movable  and  three  fixed  pulleys; 
therefore,  there  are  six  parts  of  the 
rope,  not  counting  the  free  end;  hence, 
if  the  movable  block  be  lifted  one 
foot,  the  free  end  remaining  in  the 
same  position,  there  will  be  one  foot 
of  stock  in  each  of  the  six  parts  of 
the  rope,  or  six  feet  in  all.  Therefore, 
the  free  end  of  the  rope  must  move  six 


feet,  in  order  to  take  up  this  slack. 
Hence,  one  pound  at  the  free  end  will 
support  six  pounds  at  the  other;  or, 
in  other  words,  the  force  multiplied 
by  the  distance  through  which  it 
moves  equals  the  weight  multiplied  by 
this  same  distance.  No.  105. 


A  QUESTION  OF  POWER. 

The  object  of  this  story  is  not  to 
give  a  mass  of  data  of  a  type  that 
might  be  used  in  circumstances  fixed 
by  arbitrary  rules,  but  to  attempt  to 
make  clear  another  of  many  compli- 
cated things  that  one  runs  across  in 
a  spinning  room. 

The  impression  that  many  overseers 
entertain  is  that  by  decreasing  the 
number  of  revolutions  of  the  main 
shaft,  with  a  corresponding  increase 
in  the  diameter  of  the  pulley,  the 
horse  power  of  the  belt  would  be  in- 
creased, and  a  better  drive  obtained. 
It  is  only  by  comparing  notes  that 
men  are  able  to  reach  some  common 
end,  so  let  us  reason  this  out  to- 
gether. 

Any  increase  in  the  area  of  a  pis- 
ton, the  mean  effective  pressure, 
length  of  stroke,  or  the  number  of 
revolutions  of  a  steam  engine  would 

INCREASE  ITS  HORSE  POWER. 
Any  increase  in  the  number  of  rev- 
olutions in  a  line  of  shafting  would 
increase  its  horse  power,  while  a  de- 
crease in  the  number  of  revolutions, 
with  a  corresponding  increase  in  the 
diameter  of  the  pulley,  would  lower 
the  horse  power  of  the  shaft,  while  the 
horse  power  of  the  belt  would  remain 
unchanged.  No  matter  what  the  num- 
ber of  revolutions  of  the  shaft  may 
be,  if  a  small  pulley  be  on  the  shaft  it 
is  held  responsible  for  any  slipping 
that  takes  place.  I  have  known  men 
to  reason  it  out  in  this  manner:  If 
a  larger  pulley  was  substituted  for  the 
smaller  one,  there  would  be  a  larger 


158 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


surface  covered  by  the  belt,  and  conse- 
quently, a  much  better  drive  would  be 
obtained. 

Not  having  seen  this  matter  explain- 
ed in  the  American  Wool  and  Cotton 
Reporter,  or  the  true  meaning  of  the 
word  horse  power,  permit  me  to  do 
so  in  as  simple  a  manner  as  possible. 
Taking,  for  example,  a  worsted  spin- 
ning frame  with  the  following  dimen- 
sions: 

Revolutions  of  shaft  300 

Pulley  on  shaft  20''  dia. 

Pulley  on  cylinder  14''  dia. 

Wheel   %"  dia. 

Diameter  of  cylinder  10"  dia. 

Speed  of  spindle  would  be: 

300  X  20  X  10 

 =  5,714  revolutions 

14  X  75  per  minute. 

If  the  spindle  speed  of  5,700  was 
necessary  for  any  given  stock  and 
counts,  we  will  allow  it  to  remain,  but 
at  the  same  time  increase  the  power 
of  the  belt,  also  the  shaft.  The  speed 
of  the  belt  in  feet  per  minute  would 
be: 

3.1416  X  20  X  300 

 =  1,570  feet 

12 

knowing  that  in  this  case  the  belt 
passes  over  idlers  to  the  driven  pulley 
on  the  cylinder.  The  arc  of  contact 
with  the  smaller  pulley  would  be  180 
degrees,  or  half  the  circumference.  The 
effective  pull  per  inch  of  width  in 
pounds  would  be  38.1.  Therefore,  the 
horse  power  with  a  belt  speed  of  1,570 
feet  per  minute  would  be  for  three- 
inch  belt: 

1750  X  38.1  X  3 

 —  6  horse  power 

33000 

Assuming  that  a  2-inch  steel  shaft 
is  making  30'0  revolutions,  its  hors<3 
power  would  be: 

300  X  2  X  2  X  2 

 ^  =  28  horse  power, 

85 

if  power  be  taken  off  between  bearings. 

Increasing  the  pulley  on  the  cylin- 
der from  14  to  16  inches  would  require 
343  revolutions  of  the  shaft  to  revolve 


the  spindles  at  the  same  rate  as  be- 

^  300  X  16 

tore:   =  343  revolutions. 

14 

343  X  20  XIO 

 —      g  speed  of  spindles. 

16  X  75 

With  the  shaft  making  343  revolu- 
tions per  minute  the  belt  speed  would 
be: 

3.1416  X20  X  343 

 —  1,796  feet  per  minute. 

12 

Its  horse  power  would  be: 

1796  X  38.1  X  3 

 =  6.2  horse  power, 

33000 

And  the  horse  power  of  the  shaft: 

343  X  2  X  2  X  2 

 =  32-horse  power. 

8S 

By  tnis  simple  variation,  apparently, 
the  driving  power  of  the  belt  is  chang- 
ed from  6  to  6.2  horse  power,  while 
that  of  the  shaft  was  increased  from 
28  to  32  horse  power.  It  is  to 

SIMPLIFY  THE  WORK 
of  those  who  take  the  view,  as  stated 
above,  that  I  have  undertaken  to  shape 
new  lines  of  thought,  along  which 
those  who  wish  to  do  so  may  reason 
for  themselves. 

If  the  worsted  spinners  in  this  coun- 
try wish  to  gain  the  lead  in  every 
section  of  their  industry,  they  must 
prepare  to  show  more  elasticity  in  their 
grasp  of  widely  differing  problems,  and 
be  prepared  to  treat  each  problem 
on  its  individual  merits.  A  question 
put  to  several  overseers  of  worsted 
spinning  whether  or  not  any  increase 
in  the  twist  change  gear  would  have 
any  effect  on  the  power,  would  bring 
forth  the  answer,  no.  It  is  well  known 
in  the  spinning  room  that  slippage  of 
belts  takes  place  more  frequently  when 
low  numbers  are  spun.  Leaving  out 
of  the  question  the  addition  of  car- 
riers, the  extra  weight  on  the  press 
rollers  and  the  extra  power  to  draw 
out  the  longer  staple,  does  it  require 
additional  power  to  drive  the  frame 
considering  only  a  change  in  the  twist? 


TEXTILE  DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


159 


Knowing  that  the  continued  product  of 
the  force  and  the  diameters  of  the  driv- 
en wheels  equals  the  continued  prod- 
uct of  the  weight,  the  diameter  of  the 
drum  that  moves  the  weight  and  the 
diameter  of  the  drives,  let  us  see  how 
this  works  out. 

AN  EXAMPLE. 

Taking,  for  example,  the  same  di- 
mensions given  before: 


Pulley  on  cylinder  14"  dia. 

Twist  pulley  on  dia. 

Driven  twist  pulle>  "^1"  dia. 

Roller  end  gear  268  teeth 

Chanere  gear   80  teeth 

Hub  on  F  roller  gear   4"  dia. 


We  will  suppose  that  the  roller  end 
gear  has  a  hub  4  inches  in  diameter, 
and  we  leave  off  the  weight  of  the 
rolls  entirely,  and  use  the  hub  of 
the  gear  for  the  purpose  of  raising 
some  weight  from  the  floor.  Now  sup- 
pose that  we  apply  one  pound  of  force 
to  the  belt  driving  the  frame,  how 
many  pounds  w^ould  be  raised  by  the 
hub  of  the  gear,  if  a  rope  be  fixed  to 
the  weight  and  passed  around  the 
hub? 

SOLUTION. 

1  X  14  X  22  X  268  =  W  X  4  X  BOX  11 

1  X  14  X  22  X  268 

W  -    -  23.4  lbs. 

4  X  80  X  11 

In  turning  this  around  we  could  say 
what  force  would  be  necessary  to  raise 
23  pounds: 

F  X  14  X  22  X  268  =  23.4  X  4  X  80  X  11 
23.4  X  4  X  80  X  11 

F  =   1  lb. 

14  X  22  X  268 

Apparently,  any  decrease  in  the  twist 
gear,  the  force  applied  to  the  belt  re- 
maining the  same,  a  greater  weight 
would  be  raised.  This  is  only  another 
example  in  proving  to  those  concerned 
the  necessity  of  high  belt  speeds  and 
also  one  of  numerous  things  in  the 
textile  industry  that  receives  little  at- 
tention when  the  overload  question  is 
considered  by  experts. 

It  is  a  much  disputed  question  which 
side  of  the  belt  should  be  run  next  to 


the  pulley.    The  more 

COMMON  PRACTICE, 
it  is  believed,  is  to  run  the  belt  with 
the  hair  or  grain  side  nearest  the  pul- 
ley. This  side  is  harder  and  more 
liable  to  crack  than  the  flesh  side.  By 
running  it  on  the  inside,  the  tendency 
is  to  cramp  or  compress  it  as  it  passes 
over  the  pulley,  while  if  it  ran  on  the 
outside,  the  tendency  would  be  for 
it  to  stretch  and  crack.  The  flesh  side 
is  the  tougher  side,  but  for  the  reason 
given  above,  the  life  of  the  belt  will 
be  longer  if  the  wear  comes  upon  the 
grain  side.  The  lower  side  of  the  belt 
should  be  the  driving  side,  the  slack 
side  running  from  the  top  of  the  driv- 
ing pulley.  The  sag  .of  the  belt  will 
then  cause  it  to  encompass  a  greater 
part  of  the  pulley  circumference.  If 
the  upper  side  of  the  belt  is  the  driv- 
ing side,  the  belt  will  fall  away  from 
the  pulley,  consequently,  a  smaller 
circumference  of  the  pulley  will  be 
covered,  and  a  tighter  belt  required, 
adding  unnecessary  frictioi;i  on  the 
bearings. 

Much  having  been  said  in  regard  to 
horse  power,  it  may  not  be  out  of 
place  to  make  even  this  more  clear. 
The  usual  period  of  time  considered 
when  calculating  the  power  of  an  en- 
gine is  one  minute,  since  33,000-foot 
pounds  of  work  per  minute  is  equal  to 
1-horse  power,  the  horse  power  is  ob- 
tained by  dividing  the  work  done  in 
one  minute  by  33,000.  Putting  it  an- 
other way,  we  would  say  that  33,000 
pounds  raised  one  foot  every  minute 
equal  1-horse  power. 

The  counts  to  be  spun  and 
the  draft  being  given,  to  find  the 
weight  of  40  yards  of  roving  or  any 
number  of  yards  required  for  weigh- 
ing it  would  be  necessary  to  use  the 
following  method: 

560 

—  —  Yards  in  one  hank 

D  — 

Draft 

256 

—  -—  Drams  in  one  pound 

C  ~ 

Counts 


160 


TEXTILE    DEFECTS    AND  SUGGESTIONS. 


560 


12 


Yds. 
46.8 


256 


30 


Drams 
8.5 


By  using  the  constant  for  40  yards, 
which  is  obtained  in  this  manner: 


Now  we  find  in  this  case  that  46.8 
yards  of  roving  must  weigh  8.5  drams, 
and  if  46.8  yards  weigh  8.5  drams, 
forty  yards  would  weigh 


256  X  40 

  18.3 

560 


we  have 


18.3  X  12 


8.5  X  40 

 •  =n  7.3  drams  nearly. 

46.8 


-  =  7.3  drams  for  40  yds. 


30 


The  Mill  Share  Market 


NE  of  the  elements  which  gives  a  sureness  of  perma- 


nency  to  mill  share  investments  in  New  England  is  the 
present  thorough  understanding  of  climatic  conditions. 
The  same  help  is  at  least  25  per  cent  more  effective  in  cotton 
manufacturing  in  New  England  than  in  any  other  part  of  the 
United  Stales.  We  have  a  feeling  of  personal  pride  over 
the  broad  market  for  textile  mill  shares,  and  the  same  com- 
bination of  mechanical,  chemical,  commercial,  financial,  and 
sociological  departments  of  this  journal,  which  has  created 
the  present  broad  market  for  mill  shares,  affords  equal  in- 
formation  to   the   investor   in   mill   shares  today. 


American  Wool  and  Cotton  Reporter 

Produced  Upon  Honor 
FRANK  P.  BENNETT   &  CO.,  Inc. 


PUBLISHERS 


530  Atlantic  Ave.,  Boston 


2  Rector  St.,  New  York 


Who's  Who— And  Where 

Among  Mill  Officials  and  Overseers 


The  above  is  the  title  of  a  popular  Department  which  appears 
every  week  in  the  AMERICAN  WOOL  AND  COTTON 
REPORTER,  and  which  contains  weekly  from  40  to  I  00  new 
personal  items  respecting  changes  and  other  information  about  mill 
officials  and  heads  of  departments. 

These  paragraphs  are  incidental  to  the  work  of  keeping  up 
to  date  our  card  index  of  the  men  in  authority  who  do  the  buy- 
ing for  the  textile  mills  of  the  United  States.  There  are  30,000 
of  them  —  not  mills,  but  men   who   manage   the   mills.  The 

AMERICAN  WOOL  AND  COTTON  REPORTER  is 
somewhat  jealous  of  this  branch  of  its  work,  because  there  is 
nothing  like  it  elsewhere  in  the  United  States,  and  because  of  the 
labor  and  experience  necessary  to  keep  in  constant  touch  with 
these  30,000  buyers  for  the  textle  mills;  but  such  insufficient 
statements  have  been  recently  made  respecting  the  purchasing 
agencies  of  the  textile  industry,  that  we  are  now  putting  these 
30,000  names  into  a  directory  with  addresses  and  occupations. 

The  next  edition  of  this  "Directory  of  the  Men  Who  Make 
the  Textile  Industry*'  will  also  contain  the  financial  statements  of 
leading  mills  as  well  as  detailed  information  regarding  every  mill 
in  the  United  States.  Another  new  department  will  be  The 
Textile  Buyers'  Economist.  It  will  be  the  names  and  addresses 
of  all  supply  houses  and  equipment  manufacturers  to  the  Textile 
Industry. 

This  book  is  already  in  preparation,  and  while  its  price  will 
be  $3.00,  it  will  be  furnished  gratis  to  new  subscribers  and 
advertisers  of  the 


American  Wool  and  Cotton  Reporter 

FRANK  P.  BENNETT  &  CO.,  Inc.,  Publishers 
BOSTON      NEW  YORK      PHILADELPHIA  WASHINGTON 


The  Mill  Share  Market 


Since  the  recent  decline  in  cotton,  the  margin  between  the 
raw  material  and  the  product  of  the  cotton  mill  has  become 
more  satisfactory  than  at  any  time  within  twenty-five  years,  with 
two  or  three  brief  exceptions;  hence  we  advise  our  readers  to 
watch  the  Mill  Share  Market,  and  the  only  way  to  do  this 
thoroughly  is  to  read  the  AMERICAN  WOOL  AND 
COTTON  REPORTER. 

Here  is  one  of  a  thousand  similar  instances  showing  our 
exclusive  facilities  for  determining  mill  share  values.  A  leading 
cotton  manufacturer  who  dropped  into  our  Boston  office,  a  very 
successful  man,  reminded  us  of  the  first  time  he  called  here  more 
than  twenty  years  ago  when  he  was  a  common  weaver,  restless 
and  ambitious,  moving  from  place  to  place,  and  almost  despairing 
of  securing  the  opening  for  which  his  intelligence  and  experience 
fitted  him.  Eventually  he  found  himself  and  gained  his  present 
enviable  position  in  the  manufacturing  world,  and  ihen  he  learned 
that  those  hard  and  seemingly  barren  years  were  the  fruitful 
seedtime  of  his  subsequent  experience. 

Our  information  respecting  every  detail  of  textile  manufacturing 
is  derived  from  weekly  consultation  with  several  of  the  25,000 
men  who  make  the  textile  industry  of  the  United  States,  and 
whose  names  are  on  file  in  this  office,  together  with  statements  of 
assets  and  liabilities  of  all  the  textile  mills  whose  stock  is  obtainable 
for  investment. 


American  Wool  and  Cotton  Reporter 

FRANK  P.  BENNETT  &  CO.,  inc.,  Publishers 

530  ATLANTIC  AVE.,  BOSTON  2  RECTOR  STREET,  NEW  YORK 


Textile  Newspaper  Circulations 


From  ''Advertising  and  Selling''' s  Directory  of  Trade,  Technical^ 
Mechanical   and  Engineering   Papers  for   November,  1911. 

Circu- 

Xame  of  publication.  lation. 

American  Silk  Journal  

American  Wool  and  Cotton  Reporter  11,000 

Conadian  Textile  Journal   700 

Cotton    5,854 

Fi])iG  and  Fabric  6,500 

Mill   News   6,000 

i'opsplts'  Textile  Journal   5,800 

Textile  American  

Textile  Manufacturer   3,000 

Textile  Manufacturers  Journal  

Textile  World  Record   6,279 

This  circulation  is  very  natural  because  the  AMERICAN 
WOOL  AND  COTTON  REPORTER  is  the  only  newspaper 
covering  the  textile  industry  of  the  United  States.  The  reason 
why  no  other  equally  good  source  of  information  exists  respecting 
every  phase  of  textile  manufacturing  is  because  we  have  upon  our 
editorial  staff  experts  in  every  department  of  manufacturing  and 
mill  management.  Our  mechanical  engineers  are  constantly  in- 
formed respecting  questions  of  construction  and  equipment;  Our 
overseers  and  superintendents  are  familiar  with  the  conduct  of  all 
processes  in  mills;  our  costfinders  and  designers  keep  in  constant 
touch  with  the  output  of  every  textile  mill;  our  market  reporters 
know  how  every  variety  of  fabric  is  selling  and  what  mill  produces 
it;  personal  acquaintance  keeps  us  positively  informed  as  to  the 
human  element  in  the  management  and  the  relations  between  manu- 
facturers and  heads  of  departments.  The  AMERICAN  WOOL 
AND  COTTON  REPORTER  is  the  one  source  in  the  United 
States  from  which  such  information  can  be  obtained. 

Our  Cooperative  Textile  Handbook,  of  which  the  second 
edition  is  now  about  to  be  published  after  twelve  months  of  active 
and  expensive  preparation,  contains  not  only  a  complete  directory 
of  every  textile  mill  in  the  United  States,  but  allso  statements  of 
assets  and  liabilities,  a  classified  list  of  the  names  and  occupations 
of  25,000  overseers  and  other  mill  officials. 


American  Wool  and  Cotton  Reporter 

FRANK  P.  BENNETT  &  CO.,  Inc.,  Publishers 
530  ATLANTIC  AVE.,  BOSTON  2  RECTOR  STREET,  NEW  YORK 

308  CHESTNUT  ST.,  PHILADELPHIA 


GETTY  CENTER  LIBRARY 


3  3125  00060  4666 


